Pause for Inspiration: Claudia Pratt’s Story

By Kristine Kostuck
Contributing Writer

On a healing journey: For many, healing means recovering. For Claudia M. Pratt, recovery isn’t an option during her battle with stage four breast cancer. Pratt said healing is “taking care of yourself and focusing on the things that are most important.”

In 2006, Pratt found out she had breast cancer, from which she recovered. She later had a reoccurrence in 2010. And last August, during treatments, she experienced lingering bronchitis symptoms. The cancer had moved to her lungs and Pratt faced the truth that she would not recover, just like her mother and grandmother who both passed of breast cancer. 
“You really need to start life over and enjoy every minute of it,” Pratt said.

That is when Pratt’s idea “EXPLORING NOW: 365 Days to 50” was created. “EXPLORING NOW” is a celebration of her life which includes viewer participation at the Green Market and the start of her first blog.

She came into the Green Market with her father right after finishing a chemo treatment. The walls were lined with calendars covered in green, orange and yellow post-it notes, which were sketched with suggestions for Pratt to enjoy during her life from the Market’s customers. Some notes were creative, thought provoking and insightful to Pratt; one read, “Talk like the terminator for an entire day” another said, “Drink wine in Napa Valley.”

“You must be tired,” I said.

“No, not really, a little winded but it doesn’t really affect me the way I’ve heard it affects others,” she said. “Well, it could be worse I guess.”

Pratt later admitted that she was fatigued.

My words were a little shaky and for some reason even though I knew she was there to talk to me about the disease that will kill her, I was still a little wary of asking her about it.

“It used to be a taboo subject and there are a lot of women still suffering with it that find out they have it and just don’t say anything,” Pratt said. “They just choose to ignore it, never letting families know.”

Pratt said she has to share her experience.

“If I don’t, it eats away at me like poison,” she said. “There is no sense of hiding it. Even though there is the risk of people feeling sorry for you.”

“How do they express that?” I asked.

Pratt made it clear that her attitude is not counting the days to the grave but rather enjoying every moment.

“They stop having a positive outlook,” she said. “With any diagnoses you need a positive environment. It is the only way to have a better, longer life.”

Pratt’s outlook has never strayed from positivity, even when the “mortality issue” never seemed to strain far from her life. When she was 19, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects your lymph nodes, among other areas. Soon after, her sister was also diagnosed with the same form of cancer. Pratt recieved radiation, while her sister recieved chemotherapy. Both women recovered.

After genetic testing, Pratt found that the radiation was likely what caused her breast cancer.
“[My sister and I] had different treatments because our diagnoses were at different stages,” she said. “Having that 30-year break between battles with cancer, I lost my vow to live my life to the fullest.”

Pratt has a list of things she wants in creating mementos that are not from others. She may not get to Napa Valley, but she plans on traveling to Kenya to explore human heritage. As an artist, she and her friends plan to take a trip to Santa Fe to see Georgia O’ Keefe’s work, as well as to Scandinavia where she lived a year during her college years. 

Currently, she is living with her father. Pratt likes the idea of being close to family. Later, she plans to live with her two sisters for a month after some of her travels to “experience life with her nieces and nephews daily.”

“Making memories is the most important thing at this point,” she said.

Pratt plans on using one of the most efficient ways of collecting memories, photography, an art she will share daily on her blog.

“I want to hold the message of living to the fullest and recognizing the beauty in our surroundings,” she said.

Her photos will show what she found remarkable each day to 50.

“This idea came from me and originally was about me,” she said.

But within days the boards at the Market filled up.

“I was amazed by the response,” she said. “The whole thing took a life of its own and now, I’m just a prototype for how others can deal with hardships they are struggling with.”

She looked along the walls of Green Market and smiled.

“I guess I will be dancing every month. Look at all the ones that say dance.”

[Writer’s note: You can follow Pratt’s travels and share the beauty through her eyes at cmp365daysto50.wordpress.com. If you have idea for her, post your thoughts on the calendars at the Green Market Kitchen. The exhibit takes suggestions through April 30.
The entire display will reopen near her 50th birthday next year. Pratt’s 50 will be held on Feb. 25, 2012 at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead. Donations will be accepted for Pratt’s party to support art therapy through The Art Heals program.]
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IF YOU GO:
What: EXPLORING NOW: 365 Days to 50
Where: Green Market Kitchen
When: Now through April 30, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, Noon – 9 p.m. Saturdays, 69 4th St. N. Fargo