Joni Relyea

Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. Thousands of people in the metro area will be taking part in relays over the next several months to raise money to help prevent cancer and save lives. Breast Cancer survivor Joni Relyea doesn't walk the relay, but she does use her talent for fundraisers and to celebrate those touched by cancer.

?My mom was really a love of nature person, and being very, very young, she had me listen to the ground.? That's what Joni Reylea's mother taught her.

?She said, ?Put your ear to the ground and listen. It's the Earth. The earth is growing and you have to appreciate what you're hearing.??

Joni took those lessons to heart and it?s evident in her paintings. But listening to her own body probably saved Joni's life.

?I found the cancer in 1998.?

The pain in her right arm was unbearable. A mammogram found calcifications. But doctors said they would just wait and watch. The pain persisted. A few weeks later, Joni insisted on another mammogram. The news was devastating.

?It wound up being invasive ductile carcinoma.?

She had a lumpectomy. Seven lymph nodes were removed, hampering Joni's ability to paint. And when she did pick up a brush again, the images were as dark as she felt. ?I just felt I had cancer everywhere.? ?This is a body sculpture that I did of myself. This is just a way of visualizing. For me, it helped me heal better when I was able to make this.?

Gradually her mood changed and her painting changed - back to color and back to nature. She calls this series ?First Bloom.? ?It reminds me of a rebirth.?

Much of what Joni turns out she gives away to fellow survivors and to raise funds for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life events. ?I meet people at the relays. We talk. We hold one another and we cry. And I find out what type of cancer they have and I make a painting for them. It's definitely a healing process for me and I believe it?s a healing process for others. I started doing this and I don't have any intentions of stopping.?

Click here to find out where the next Relay for Life is taking place in your community.