I discovered hidden talents
THE hospice has a vibrant art group in which day hospice patients often discover a talent they did not even know they had.
For instance Elias Pharoah, 53, of Stirchley has spent his entire life working in music and it was only when he started coming to St Mary’s three years ago that he found he could also draw.
The father and grandfather was diagnosed with abdominal cancer six years ago and has undergone three major operations and 14 months of chemotherapy so that his condition is now relatively stable.
Father to Louise, 34, and Vanessa, 28, and grandfather to Chloe, nine, Ariyah, six, and eight-month-old Nieve, Elias has discovered a new interest on his weekly visit to the hospice.
“When I first came here and they suggested doing some art I wasn’t too sure but when I started doing it I found I enjoyed it,” he says. “I have sold a bit of it and raised some money for St Mary’s.”
Elias has spent most of his life playing, writing and producing R ‘n’ B and reggae music but after becoming a born again Christian two years ago has now found a love of Gospel.
And together with the choir of Stirchley Community Church je has produced a CD which has already raised £1,000 for the hospice and is now organising a concert in December.
“I just want to thank St Mary’s Hospice for all the help and support,” he adds.
Also in the art group is Sheila Rodgers, 75, of Northfield, who has sold a good deal of her work to raise money for the hospice.
“I tend to do a lot of portraits,” she says. “Of adults, children and animals.”
Sheila has long had an association with St Mary’s. Her husband Kenneth was diagnosed with prostate cancer ten years ago and spent time as an inpatient before dying at home four years ago aged 72.
And two years after his diagnosis Sheila was found to have developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Having undergone surgery to remove two lymph nodes and many rounds of chemotherapy, she is now on maintenance drugs.
For Sheila, who has two children, Alan, 53, and Garry, 49, plus grandchildren Jonathan, 29, Stephen, 21, Thomas, 19, Lee, 18, Christian, 17, and Christopher, 15, as well as great niece Amy, being at the hospice gives her a chance to dedicate a day to her artwork.
“When I am at home I tend to have other things to do like the gardening,” she says. “But here I can just sit and draw.
“I didn’t really do any art since I was a child and I was surprised to find I had a talent. I ask for a small donation for St Mary’s for my portraits. It is something to give back for all the support I have had.”
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