Heidi Hooper was a metalsmith working and teaching classes in the late 1990s in Boston before a cancerous tumor ate away the strength of her right arm and seemed to signal the end of her artistic career.
“I had been hammering eight to 10 hours a day,” said Hooper, whose artistic metal armor pieces had won costuming awards all over the world. “[The illness] was a huge jolt. It became so I struggled to hold a glass of water, let alone a hammer.”
Cancer treatments destroyed most of the muscles in her upper arm and left her with painful swelling. Hooper searched for a way she could still create, but even working with material such as soft clay was painful.
“In order to keep from getting too depressed, each day I gave myself something new to try, whether it was artistic or just cooking an egg,” Hooper said.
Inspiration struck in the odd form of guilt. Friends had given Hooper some soft chenille throws to comfort her through the cancer treatments, but a well-meaning helper accidentally destroyed them by putting them in the dryer.
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Kudos to her for making lemons into lemonade.