Help Blair Hansen from Asp & Hand with cancer

We are fundraising for our dear friend Blair Hansen and her family as they prepare for her upcoming surgeries to remove the cancer that has returned to her mouth and neck. Blair is mother to two girls, Smokey Rose, age 7, and Frances, age (almost) 9, and partner to her husband Eli Hansen. These funds will go to helping Blair and her family during the preparation for and recovery from this major surgery.

For two decades, Blair has been a central voice and thinker in contemporary art, and a great and super supportive friend to many in our community. For the last 6 years, she and Eli have been operating a small hand-blown glassware business, Asp & Hand, in Washington State, where they live. With the return of the disease, Blair has to step away from that work. The funds raised here will help Blair focus on her recovery and help her take care of her family.

 

In Blair’s own words: “In 2016, after tracking “precancer” for six years, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma and had a major surgery and a course of radiation to remove cancer from my mouth/neck. In 2020, I had a minor surgery to remove a recurrence of carcinoma from my tongue. And now, in 2021, the cancer is back in my tongue, but to a greater extent, by my tonsil/soft palette. In order to try to preserve my speech and swallowing function, I will have a transplant surgery and a lot of work to do in recovery. The doctors feel positive about the self-contained-ness of these recurrences, but it is disconcerting that the cancer seems to keep coming back. Chemo is not very helpful for my kind of cancer, and I can’t have any more radiation, so surgery is the only tool in the Western Medical Toolkit. Fortunately, Seattle has very strong cancer treatment teams, and I am confident that I will receive excellent care.”

 

Eli will continue running Asp & Hand during this time, and purchases of their beautiful glassware is another excellent way to help Blair and her family. Feel free to visit aspandhand.com or follow them on Instagram: @aspandhand