When
Lois Hjelmstad presents "Cancer—A Catalyst for Change,"
audiences are moved. Sometimes they laugh; sometimes they cry; sometimes
they cheer. A social worker at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston
said, "It was the honesty that had such an impact. She was able
to put all the feelings into words—so many words of wisdom in such compact
space."
Hjelmstad
has given over 525 presentations in 50 states, England, and Canada,
challenging her audiences to learn to take risks. She knows whereof
she speaks.
In
1990, Hjelmstad had the first of two mastectomies. As she coped with
fear of recurrence and changing priorities, she wrote Fine Black
Lines: Reflections on Facing Cancer, Fear and Loneliness. A grandmother
and a piano teacher, she dared to appear nude from the waist up in Colorado
Woman News, a Denver magazine, to raise consciousness for National
Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Fine
Black Lines has won awards in both the United States and England.
The book is currently in its seventh printing with 19,000 copies in print.
This book has helped many women cope with the medical and emotional
challenges of breast cancer.
Lois
Hjelmstad has been developing her skills in communication, her insights,
and her ability to articulate deep feelings throughout her life. She
taught as many as 65 music students a week in her private music studio,
while she and her husband raised their four children. In 1978, she presented
a workshop on Creativity Is a Way of Teaching at the Colorado
State Music Teachers Association's Convention and subsequently gave
that workshop to many local music teacher associations.
In
its wide acceptance, Fine Black Lines provided impetus to expand
Hjelmstad's speaking career. Over the past twelve years, she has traveled
almost 400,000 miles, talking to patients, professionals, cancer support
groups, women's groups, book clubs, and college students. She has given
keynote addresses, provided in-services (Continuing Education Units
and Continuing Medical Education), held workshops, spoken at physicians'
conferences (as well as Grand Rounds and Tumor Boards), and read poetry.
Hjelmstad
was featured in the October 2001 issue of Rosie magazine and
interviewed by Rosie O'Donnell on her show.
Hjelmstad's
articles on breast cancer have been published in American Medical
News, Administrative Radiology Journal, Health Progress
Magazine, Your Health, and PARENTGUIDE, among others.
She was featured in a documentary produced by Fred Silverman, Living
with Cancer: A Message of Hope, which has been widely distributed
on nationwide PBS. She has appeared in several other documentaries as
well. A number of her articles are on www.worldwideseniors.com.
As
her mother lay dying in home hospice care, Hjelmstad again began journeling
and expressing her thoughts in poetry. In the several years since her
mother's death, she has continued to reflect on her mother's life and
on the experience of grief.
With
the 2002 publication of The Last Violet: Mourning My Mother,
Hjelmstad further addresses the issues of loss and
relationships with others, including hospice and bereavements groups.
In
addition to teaching, writing, and speaking, Lois loves walking, traveling,
entertaining family and friends, being involved with children, and thinking
about the larger questions of life.
Her
mission is to bring clarity, validation, and solace to others.
