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| "Sidney Relaxing by the Fire Pit" Oil on Canvas. 30" x 24" 2021. |
Sidney was born with five to six Café au lait spots and by the time her parents left the hospital with her she had over twenty. Thankfully, she did not have any learning disabilities growing up. Her parents kept her active in ballet, tap dance and gymnastics to help with strength and endurance. Sidney had her first surgery at 15 years old followed by nearly one surgery every three years. Later on, Sidney was diagnosed with Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor (MPNST) a form of cancer of the connective tissue surrounding nerves. Given its origin and behavior it is classified as a sarcoma. Sidney had resection/radiation to her right lung in 2009. Nine years later, she then then had surgery to her left lung. In 2019, she had surgery to her right lung again, but this time along with radiation. She is now on her fourth concoction of chemotherapy. She been treated in Omaha, Phoenix and Rochester.
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| Prep sketch for Sidney |
Sidney currently works in the Papillion LaVista school district working one on one with special needs children. Sidney stays on top of NF/sarcoma research and follows a lot trending research on social media. She was never comfortable in her skin growing up, but now that she has a seven year old daughter who was diagnosed with NF1 at 4 months old she has come to love herself and she teaches her daughter to embrace her body. Sidney teaches her daughter that, "We are both are special and that our bodies are beautiful."
