Art is Caron Lawler's passion and her livelihood. The Clarence mother favors bright colors and recently began creating painted rugs which are offered for sale in specialty shops in Western New York.  The local artist's first love was color pencils and ink. She specialized in portraits; however, during her treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), she found creating the intensely decorated rugs to be therapeutic as they would comfort her spirit while her body was fighting the disease. "I have a passion for life," Caron explains. "These small rugs which I call floor cloths helped me express my joy with simply being alive."

Caron was diagnosed with an advanced form of AML in 1999. Leukemias are cancers of the blood-forming system and account for only about two percent of all cancers. 
As a result of the advanced nature of her disease, doctors recommended Caron undergo an autologous blood and marrow transplant (BMT) in which Caron's own healthy bone marrow was used to replace her diseased or damaged bone marrow. 

Caron was cancer free until 2000. A strong, determined woman, Caron underwent a second BMT. This time, however, Caron's own bone marrow was too damaged to be used. Therefore she had an allogeneic BMT, in which bone marrow from a compatible donor is used.  

When she thinks about those many days in the hospital, the numerous difficult treatments, the long road to recovery, Caron remarks, "There is so much I don't want to remember, but so much I don't want to forget."  Caron says she has no memory of the 9-11 tragedy but she does recall the many kindnesses she experienced from nurses, doctors and volunteers at Roswell Park. She recalls how her then teenage son, Eric, put his life on hold to care for his mother as she slowly returned to health. 

 "You never recover completely," Caron notes. "But I feel wonderful. I am so happy and grateful to be here. Art helped hold me together as I went through the transplants. It is my gift and my source of strength in both good and bad times," she says. Caron plans to donate some of her work to the caregivers of the fifth floor of the hospital.

As for Caron's message of hope for the holidays: "Hope is belief. Belief in the doctors and caregivers who help you, belief in the friends and families who support you through the illness, belief even in strangers who are there for you even when you don't know them. So believe you have a fighting chance and believe in all those who are there to help you."