The C word.
I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for a while but didn’t know where to start. The last few months have been scarred with death and loss.
At the beginning of the year I offered my illustrative skills to a young girl called Rosie Kilburn, who I had met through my girlfriend a few months earlier.
Rosie had been diagnosed with cancer at the age of 16 on February 1st 2008. While sitting in a hospital waiting room between various treatments and tests she decided that she wanted to raise money, but instead of race for life she wanted to do something more long term.
People had treated Rosie as a victim, suffering from cancer. She found support for herself but not much for family and friends. So The Knock on Effect was born. TKOE is a sustainable fundraising business with all money raised going to various cancer charities. Rosie needed start up funds, so ran an art auction in July 2009. 400 art donations were sent in, raising £10k. This gave Rosie the backing to launch an online shop.
She created and sold her own range of tshirts, but these weren’t just normal tshirts but more brutal in their message than the normal cancer research snappy happy ones. As Rosie said herself “Promoting that we can do it, we can survive; because we want to. It will stop people skirting around cancer as if it’s a swear word and start to make them talk.” The main mantra behind TKOE is to simply challenge the stereotypical view of cancer and promote a more positive message.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I offered my services to Rosie in the hope I could somehow help her company and raise some money. Together we created an illustration, a strong man character. The idea was that the character was showing strength and the ability to fight the disease.
On the 12th of September 2011 Rosie sadly lost her battle with cancer. I say lost her battle but Rosie has achieved so much in her short life. Reading her blog will help you to understand why, she really is an inspiration. Her daily posts helped paint a picture of a brave, honest and feisty young lady.
In recent months, many illustrators and designers have created tribute pieces to help raise money for charities or those effected (Japan earthquake for example). Most of these are honest artworks created directly in response to the tragic news of loss. Although, I can’t help but feel some illustrators are compelled to create an artwork to promote themselves as others jump on the band wagon and saturate this idea. Why should it take a death or loss of a major figure head for us to want to help? As shown by the online response to the death of Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs over the last 24 hours.
Even though I have never lost a close friend directly to cancer, I lost the closest friend I’ve ever had when I was only 20. Someone who I think about everyday. Nothing prepares you for losing someone close to you, especially when young. I’ve always wanted to do something in her name to raise some money with the help of some amazing artists but didn’t feel like it was the good thing to do. I’m not one to ride off other people’s talents for example. I feel a connection with what Rosie has created and I want to help, if I can. If creativity can help even a little tiny bit.
Rosie’s funeral last week was a real celebration and dare I say it was a really enjoyable day. Stripey lollies and jam jars full of wild flowers, an ice cream van, a balloon release (each one with a message to Rosie), and tales of bravery and honesty from those close to her. For me, she was a real inspiration. She has taught me that life is precious and not to waste it. However bad my life might seem it is nothing compared to what she went through over the last few years.
Below is the design I created for TKOE, it has never been sent to print as we were unsure on how to show it in the shop, we talked about shirt designs, tote bags or even potential sticker packs.
At her funeral I attached my message to a balloon and promised her I would try and help to spread the word about The Knock on Effect and to get that artwork out there in the social domain which she was so heavily involved in. If you are interested in helping me do something, please get in touch, drop me an email or tweet. I’m not quite sure what to do with the design. Is it something that would sell, would you buy it on a postcard, a bag, a sticker? Hopefully someone out there will be able to suggest something I can do with the design as I would hate to see it wasted. If my work could even inspire one of you reading this to think about cancer, donate some money or simply appreciate what you have, then I have achieved my goal and will be happy.
I’m asking you as a community, as artists, as friends to do something amazing.
If you wanted to read Rosie’s blog or check out The Knock on Effect website, then please click some of the links below.
http://www.theknockoneffect.co.uk/index.html - The Knock on Effect homepage.
http://theknockoneffect.wordpress.com/ - Rosie’s blog. A honest and refreshing approach to blogging about the effects of cancer.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/- Hundreds-pay-tribute-inspirational-Rosie-Kilburn/story-13411121-detail/story.html - News article about Rosie’s funeral.
