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Art For
Health

Cancer survivor
nurtures talent at
Karmanos Center
drawing class.

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PAYMENT RELIEF

Diane Melkus creates a pencil drawing

at the Karmanos Cancer Center in

Farmington Hills.

Elizabeth A. Katz
Special to the Jewish News

D

iane Blumenfeld Melkus, 61,
of Oak Park, "woke up" several
years ago to discover that she
was on a new path to an art career.
Back in 1999, at the age of 48, Melkus
was diagnosed with lymphoma. She
received chemotherapy and had a bone
marrow transplant in 2001, which
eliminated her tumors.
But then she contracted graft-versus-
host disease (GVHD), a common but
life-threatening condition many bone
marrow transplant recipients experi-
ence where the new cells attack the
recipient's body.
For several years, Melkus says the
medication that helped her fight GVHD
made her constantly sleepy. It was only
when she was taken off that medication
that she woke up with a desire to chan-
nel that new energy into something
creative.
"Sometimes, I feel like drawing is
all I want to do:' she said. "I need to be
productive. Using a pencil or a paint
brush, time goes by so quickly."
Finding a support community at the
Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Center
in Farmington Hills, Melkus draws
guidance from art instructor Nancy
Duke and is nurturing a talent that she
has rolled into her own business, creat-
ing pet portraits. Melkus is one of more
than a dozen artists who'll take part in
the "Made in Michigan" art exhibition

Art for Health on page 20

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April 8 2010

19