While vacationing on the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship I decided to attend
an art auction. Yes, I was lured with the promise of free champagne,
free art, and great giveaways. I know, I know, nothing of value is given away,
but I could find no better way to spend an hour of my time on our first
day at sea.
It started with a peruse through the
pieces for auction. The auctions on cruise ships are run by Park West Gallery. Therefore they push, I mean "showcase", a lot of Peter Max, Thomas
Kinkade, Anatole Krasnyansky, etc. If you have never been to an art auction,
you should go. It is fun. Park West auctioneers give fascinating little facts
about the artists and paintings and keep the audience entertained and involved.
Caution: if
you feel compelled to buy an expensive piece of art, it is worth paying
for internet onboard or finding some wifi onshore to ensure you know what you
are buying. Prices may be inflated on ships with all the glamour,
excitement, and lack of ways to research a buy.
When
I look at art I can appreciate the skill, creativity, and time that it
takes to produce it. Rarely does art affect me emotionally and it has
never infected me the way that Romero Britto's "Fall" did.
I
use the word "infected" because every time I saw it, I was more drawn to
it. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Every time I passed by it I would stare longer and see more. The more I learned about it, the more I felt like the artist somehow
knew me... Sorry, not me, but my daughter, Emily.
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The subject of the piece is a cute girl, perhaps 10 years old. She is standing with eyes wide open and smiling. She is surrounded by a beautiful, colourful world, with her happy-go-lucky dog behind her to the right.
Aboard the ship there is a Britto store. I went and looked through some coffee table books of Britto's work. He seems to paint some subjects with their eyes open, and some closed. While I'm not sure why Britto does this, to me it would seem that eyes closed is how the subject wishes to see the world. Eyes open is the way the subject actually sees the world.
The girl pictured here has her eyes wide
open and a big smile. I am afraid this may be the way EmC will always
see the world around her. That she will always see fun and beauty, but never
understand the dangers. I am afraid that people may take advantage of
that.
To her left is a blue dog. His eyes are
closed and he is smiling. His eyes are closed because he can only
imagine the perfect world that she sees. He is happy because she is his
companion. The blue dog reminds me of EmC's companion, Neako (R.I.P. Aug 25, 2014).
The auctioneers had already met Emily so perhaps
they were pulling at our heartstrings when they explained
to us that the dog's name is Azul. They opened a book about the artist
and showed Azul in front of Basel Children's Hospital in Brazil.
The artist, Britto, even drops a subtle hint that the piece is link to us. Looking closely you will notice the girl is also holding a bouquet of flowers behind her back. These
flowers are the same colour I gave to my wife during a photo shoot we
did while pregnant with Emily....also behind my back.What we didn't tell them, because it is so painful to discuss, was that the most powerful aspect of the piece was the girl's heart that she wears on her shirt for everyone to see. More still was this girl's heart is whole.
EmC has a complete AVSD. This means that the center wall dividing the left and right side of her heart did not form correctly. In layman terms, her heart has 2 chambers.
This
type of heart defect is (almost) always corrected within the first six
months of life (with ~95% success rate). If you believe what your read
online, the condition is fatal if not corrected by 2 years of age.
EmC was ~16 months old at the time and showing no signs of heart failure.
EmC was diagnosed at birth with a complete AVSD. We were told
intervention would be needed at 6m. The 3m follow up showed a piece of tissue
covering the lager hole (VSD). There were no signs of heart failure so
they postponed surgery to 1yr of age.
At the 6m follow up, the tissue was still preventing any signs of heart failure, so surgery was postponed again until she is ~5yr old if needed at all.
At the 1yr follow up we were told to come back when she was 2.5yrs old.
At the 2.5yr follow up the tissue has effectively "closed" the VSD, however the ASD has gotten a little bigger. So the "if needed" is now "most likely"
She is now 35mnths old, no signs of heart failure, and penciled in for OHS surgery at ~5yrs old.
EmC is one of the very few not corrected complete AVSDs thriving beyond 2yrs of age. The thought of OHS is very scary. EmC is happy, playful, energetic, and meeting all her milestones. It is easy to forget about what she will most likely have to go through (OHS) in the not so distant future.
At the 6m follow up, the tissue was still preventing any signs of heart failure, so surgery was postponed again until she is ~5yr old if needed at all.
At the 1yr follow up we were told to come back when she was 2.5yrs old.
At the 2.5yr follow up the tissue has effectively "closed" the VSD, however the ASD has gotten a little bigger. So the "if needed" is now "most likely"
She is now 35mnths old, no signs of heart failure, and penciled in for OHS surgery at ~5yrs old.
EmC is one of the very few not corrected complete AVSDs thriving beyond 2yrs of age. The thought of OHS is very scary. EmC is happy, playful, energetic, and meeting all her milestones. It is easy to forget about what she will most likely have to go through (OHS) in the not so distant future.
So if this picture is a portrait of my daughter's future, it means a lot to see her with a heart that is whole and unbroken.
