http://gildedtheartofhealing.org/

Gilded: The Art of Healing, Seaport Blvd, Boston, MA (2026)

10/07/2021

Boston Fashion Week]

Gilded: The Art of Healing]
Evelyn: Survivor of stage 3C colon cancer with 11 lymph nodes involved.
Evelyn: “ I have been cancer free since 2008…I am a resilient woman, I bounce back from everything that has happened in my life. I don’t sweat the small stuff and I am kind to everyone.”

Such an honor to work with this amazingly strong woman and creative team! She is an for

Evelyn’s inspirational photo shoot and survivor story to follow!

THE TEAM

Gilded: The Art of Healing] was honored to take part in this celebration of hope, strength and resilience.

Our survivor:

Creative team: Boston Fashion Week]

- photographer

- wardrobe

- wardrobe

- founder GTAOH/director

- GTAOH board/HMUA

- GTAOH board/content

10/06/2021

We’re so excited for our with to be featured in the 2021 Boston Fashion Week installation! Find our images in the (Waterfront Park near ICA)

Boston Fashion Week’s city-wide exhibit will be the first public art installation of its kind, making seven days of fashion content accessible to all!

It will feature work from regional fashion designers, accessory designers, photographers, illustrators, textile artists, fashion schools, historical fashion archives, stylists, hairstylists, makeup artists, models, and more!

was honored to take part in this celebration of creativity!

Our survivor:

Creative team:

- photographer

- wardrobe

- wardrobe

- founder GTAOH/director

- GTAOH board/HMUA

- GTAOH board/content

Repost:
It's Boston Fashion Week, which means "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

Explore the city and discover treasures in public spaces, near historical landmarks and iconic institutions through

Use the app to unlock content at or near these locations.

(near ICA)

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•watch for full portrait release soon!

07/27/2021

Debby - part 1
Debby is the mother of 3 grown children, has 15 grandchildren and 3 grand-puppies.

She worked as a nurse in Boston for 38 years.

When her children were older, and in need of her attention after school, Debby made the tough decision to take a job at a nearby state school, a job she never enjoyed, but one that allowed her the time she needed to be there for her kids.

Debby’s husband suffered for years with emotional disabilities making life at home difficult and unpredictable. She divorced him in 1989, though he continued to live with her and the kids until November of 2008. Upon Debby’s insistence he left the day after their daughter’s wedding.

With the help of her close-knit siblings and two incredibly supportive parents, she made it work, keeping most of the chaos from her children and insisting they always treat their father with respect and dignity. In a way, she felt it was her responsibility, not so much for him, but for her children... “He was their father... Living with him was the worst thing I’ve ever gone through, but I do believe that my kids are better people because he was so difficult. They’re all successful, generous and inclusive and they know the meaning of family. My mom (Nana) was raised in an orphanage and my dad (Big Papa) joined the service at 17. His ship was attacked and sunk, but he survived and when my parents married, they vowed that their children would be raised in love...and we were.

I have two sisters and three brothers. We don’t remember my father ever raising his voice or even swearing. My mother was the disciplinarian, but never “told” on us when he got home. Our parents were strict, but kind and liberal. God, family, country - that’s how we were raised. They never judged anyone and taught us to accept people for who they are. They taught us to give back and be grateful and I think I was able to instill that in my own kids, too”.

In 2001, while tending to a male patient at work, Debby reached over his bed and he grabbed her and threw her across the room. She was in extreme pain, but went home and decided to rest for a bit. When she woke, she was unable to walk.

Survivor: Debby Whall Lawrence
Creative director & founder: Gina Woelfel
Photographer: Wendy Shea Photography
Location: b. Luxe Hair and Makeup Studio
HMUA: Heather Fiatarone-Cohen
Match

07/27/2021

Debby - part 2
Debby describes the “red tape” from workman’s comp as bad as the injury itself.
No doctor would agree to see her and when one finally did, he cancelled the appointment while she was in his waiting room. (He only agreed to reschedule her when she refused to stop screaming outside of his office)
Three weeks later he performed an EMG (Electromyography measures the electrical activity in response to a nerve's stimulation of the muscle) and called to apologize to her that night. He said her injury was severe and life-changing.
She was diagnosed with acute radiculitis, a severe inflammation of the spinal nerve roots.

Debby returned to work a year later with an agreed upon, lighter-duty schedule from the state school. When they reneged and insisted that she work longer days with multiple shifts in a row, she hired an attorney and won.

A decade of ups and downs lay ahead with multiple doctors, steroid injections, physical therapy and pain management. These treatments worked for a few months and then the pain and instability would return.

In 2011, while Debby was enjoying a few cocktails with her daughters, they “bullied” her into joining Match.com.
As she puts it “I was three sheets to the wind and they made me do it!”

Soon after, Debby met John, her “Sweet pea”. They’ve been married for eight years now. “He’s a good, good man and I didn’t know that was a normal thing. I didn’t know I could have that.”

Degenerative disc disease began to set in and isthmic spondylolisthesis followed.
Debbie’s spine was collapsing. There were herniations at L2 and L3. The electrical shocks running down her legs would hit without warning and cause her to fall.

A new battery of tests, images and x-rays were ordered and revealed a severe degenerative (De Novo) adult scoliosis - a sideways curvature of the spine that appears in adulthood. Debby’s spine now had more than a 55% curve and measuring at just 5’4”, she was a full 4 inches shorter than her previous height of 5’8”. With the severity of this diagnosis her current doctor recommended a new neurosurgeon.

Survivor: Debby Whall Lawrence
Creative director & founder: Gina Woelfel
Photographer: Wendy Shea Photography
Location: b. Luxe Hair and Makeup Studio
HMUA: Heather Fiatarone-Cohen
Match

07/27/2021

Debby - part 3
In 2016, Debby was given the option of two procedures, a high-risk, ten hour surgery to completely rebuild her spine or a TLIF (Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion): a smaller procedure that would cement the vertebrae up and away from the compressed nerve root tip. She asked the doctor what he’d tell his mother to do and he said “start small”, so she did.
For two years, the TLIF worked. It was Debby’s husband who first noticed that she was listing and walking differently. Debby dismissed this as silly, but also wondered why her “muffin top” was only on one side of her waist. “I didn’t want to see this again. I wanted it to go away, leave me alone and let me age gracefully.”
When the pain became unbearable and her mobility deteriorated, Debby made the difficult decision to move forward with the rebuild in January 2020.
Two titanium rods would be inserted to flank her spine and support her vertebrae. A robotic “surgeon” would drill the holes necessary to precisely torque 18 screws through the rods into her spine, cementing the final two screws into her pelvis.
Debby’s family gathered at the hospital for her surgery. They knew this was a difficult procedure, made even more difficult by Debby’s age. She remembers her husband’s face. “He was so somber.” When the doctor visited Debby in pre-op, he asked her to state what surgery she was having that day. “Breast implants. 36 DD’s!”
Her doctor blushed and her husband burst out laughing.
“I needed a joke so that my John didn’t look so sad before I went under. I needed that for me” explained Debby.
She had two requests before surgery. Her first was to be off the ventilator before she woke. “I’m kind of a stubborn person, which is kinda good, but also, kinda bad. I knew if I woke up with that in me, I’d fight it.”
Her second was that she’d be able to climb up 13 steps - the same number it would take for her to get to her bedroom at home, because she had no intention of going to rehab.
Debby is a year and a half out from surgery and feeling good, enjoying life with John, her kids and the grandkids.
“Any day I can plant my two feet on the ground is a good day”.

Survivor: Debby Whall Lawrence
Creative director & founder: Gina Woelfell
Photographer: Wendy Shea Photography
Location: b. Luxe Hair and Makeup Studio
HMUA: Heather Fiatarone-Cohen
Match

06/05/2021

From my very special friend who helped me to heal…love you Emily Medina

05/12/2021

Today I was a guest on the Style & Glamour Show! What a lovely experience it was to sit and chat with this Boston legend! We talked a bit about fashion, work, life and Gilded: The Art of Healing.
Looking forward to sharing in a few weeks! ♥️

04/29/2021

John R •
John retired from the Teamsters after 18 years of driving tractor trailers for them. He then opened up his own mechanic shop, which he still runs today.

A few years ago, he took his grandchildren to the park and while pushing them on the swings, his finger became entangled in the chains and was ripped off.

John quickly wrapped his hand in his T-shirt and put the kids in the truck.

He then grabbed a screwdriver and went back to the swings to pry his finger out.

Once free, he jammed it in his pocket and drove to the hospital.

They were able to successfully
reattach his finger.

A few weeks later, the doctors removed the bandage and John saw his finger for the first
time since they reattached it.

“Hey Doc, I’m fairly certain the nail is supposed to face up.
Cut it back off.”

They had attached his finger upside down…

Photo credit:
Michael Cevoli

03/25/2021

There are no two scars alike.

Each one, an intimate narrative of our endurance, tenacity, and grit.

Without our consent, scars reveal a
page from our personal diary.

They are a witness to trauma, a punctuation in our life, and a portrait of resiliency.

A scar is proof that we can heal...

03/07/2021

Pain, trauma, and loss are an inevitable part of life.
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Most of us learn to understand this long after having it taught to us. We’re pushed to perfection from our earliest years- be it perfection in our appearance, our physical strength or emotional stability. Our work, education and parenting skills are under constant scrutiny and every day we’re bombarded with images of “perfect people” living their “perfect lives.”
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Where do we leave room for imperfection? Where do we find space for our lives to crack and settle?
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Everything exists in an organic state of ebb and flow. Our world is comprised of seasons of warmth and light, waves of darkness and destruction, and inevitably, acceptance and rebirth.
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Is it so hard to believe that our lives exist in this same state of trauma and rebirth?
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It’s impossible for us to go through life unbroken. We’re fragile beings living in a world not conducive to fragility. We will break. In fact, these breaks will make us stronger, more empathetic individuals. Trauma doesn’t ask permission to enter our lives. It rudely kicks in the front door without warning. But what if we weren't told from a very young age that pain, trauma and fear are signs of an imperfect existence? Would we be better equipped to deal with these situations? Would scars, disability, and emotional pain be viewed as the inhibitors we see them as today?
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Instead, we could idolize things like resiliency, empathy, and acceptance.
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We don’t have a choice as to when these difficult situations will present themselves, but, we do have a choice as to how we receive them. We can let trauma define us, or we can allow the light to shine through the cracks. We can humble ourselves, and be more realistic with our expectations of the "perfect life".
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If we can take the hands we’re offered to pull us up and through, we could “gild”” a greater society together.

Gilded: The Art of Healing

10/07/2021

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