A Life Interrupted...So What Next?
Donation protected
Background
For over 20 years Cash Hester has been part of Baltimore’s arts advocacy community. Through her company, Concepts by Cash, she has been a one-woman dynamo, coordinating arts showcases that provide a stage so that the city’s youth, as well as its performing and visual artists, can shine. Never one to just sit back and simply hope that the arts will always have a home in Baltimore, Cash rolls up her sleeves—and even rolls out the red carpet!—so that children in the city’s afterschool programs and classrooms can be inspired by professional artists. One artist who has worked with Cash for many years calls her “The Patron Saint of Working Artists” because of her unwavering dedication to the city’s artists and children. If you've encountered Cash, you know her capacity for giving, and you also know that she has never met a stranger…only friends she hasn’t laughed with yet.
Situation
In September 2016 Cash discovered a malignant tumor in her breast that was growing at a rapid pace. It went from BB sized in early October, to walnut sized in December, and by January it had expanded to the size of an egg. Her doctors recommended an aggressive chemotherapy campaign that started in early 2017. For someone who has always been healthy, active and independent, the effects of the treatment were physically, emotionally, and spiritually dramatic. Debilitating fatigue? Check. Bone and muscle aches? Check. A lot of the other million ugly things that come with chemotherapy? Check and check and check again!
Through it all, Cash has been supported and sustained by a small group of close friends and artists she calls her Baltimore family, and she has continued to work in spite of the pain and sickness. This process has been very difficult, especially for someone as fiercely independent as Cash is.
So, what next?
Being an entrepreneur is hard. Being a cultural entrepreneur who serves children and the arts can be even harder. Being a one-woman arts advocacy show while waging a battle against cancer is almost impossible. That’s where you can help.
As Cash continues her journey through the end of the year, she is preparing for multiple surgeries, radiation, ongoing tests and infusions, while balancing her business. Now she needs people to advocate for her this time. She hasn’t been able to work her usual 60-80 hour work week for months. She was forced to shut down a part of her business and her income has been cut nearly in half. Yet, in addition to normal living expenses the medical bills are rolling in, and continuing her health insurance is essential.
Cash, like the Phoenix she is, is already looking ahead. Although she has been challenged in every way, and it is deeply scary managing such a crisis on her own, she realizes that it is only through the support of her friends—and the people touched by the people she has touched—that she can pull through this and land on her feet again.
Please give whatever you can and encourage others to do the same. No one can do it alone, and no one who has given so much to so many others should have to. Love for others and love for the arts has brought Cash this far. Let’s help her rise up because, when she’s airborne again, you know she’ll keep using her powers for good.
Courage, faith, blessings, and love,
The Cash Hester "What Next" Team
For over 20 years Cash Hester has been part of Baltimore’s arts advocacy community. Through her company, Concepts by Cash, she has been a one-woman dynamo, coordinating arts showcases that provide a stage so that the city’s youth, as well as its performing and visual artists, can shine. Never one to just sit back and simply hope that the arts will always have a home in Baltimore, Cash rolls up her sleeves—and even rolls out the red carpet!—so that children in the city’s afterschool programs and classrooms can be inspired by professional artists. One artist who has worked with Cash for many years calls her “The Patron Saint of Working Artists” because of her unwavering dedication to the city’s artists and children. If you've encountered Cash, you know her capacity for giving, and you also know that she has never met a stranger…only friends she hasn’t laughed with yet.
Situation
In September 2016 Cash discovered a malignant tumor in her breast that was growing at a rapid pace. It went from BB sized in early October, to walnut sized in December, and by January it had expanded to the size of an egg. Her doctors recommended an aggressive chemotherapy campaign that started in early 2017. For someone who has always been healthy, active and independent, the effects of the treatment were physically, emotionally, and spiritually dramatic. Debilitating fatigue? Check. Bone and muscle aches? Check. A lot of the other million ugly things that come with chemotherapy? Check and check and check again!
Through it all, Cash has been supported and sustained by a small group of close friends and artists she calls her Baltimore family, and she has continued to work in spite of the pain and sickness. This process has been very difficult, especially for someone as fiercely independent as Cash is.
So, what next?
Being an entrepreneur is hard. Being a cultural entrepreneur who serves children and the arts can be even harder. Being a one-woman arts advocacy show while waging a battle against cancer is almost impossible. That’s where you can help.
As Cash continues her journey through the end of the year, she is preparing for multiple surgeries, radiation, ongoing tests and infusions, while balancing her business. Now she needs people to advocate for her this time. She hasn’t been able to work her usual 60-80 hour work week for months. She was forced to shut down a part of her business and her income has been cut nearly in half. Yet, in addition to normal living expenses the medical bills are rolling in, and continuing her health insurance is essential.
Cash, like the Phoenix she is, is already looking ahead. Although she has been challenged in every way, and it is deeply scary managing such a crisis on her own, she realizes that it is only through the support of her friends—and the people touched by the people she has touched—that she can pull through this and land on her feet again.
Please give whatever you can and encourage others to do the same. No one can do it alone, and no one who has given so much to so many others should have to. Love for others and love for the arts has brought Cash this far. Let’s help her rise up because, when she’s airborne again, you know she’ll keep using her powers for good.
Courage, faith, blessings, and love,
The Cash Hester "What Next" Team
Organizer and beneficiary
Sharron Conrad
Organizer
Irving, TX
Cash Hester
Beneficiary