Friday, October 7, 2011

In memory of our dear friend Amberlin Wu

Amberlin Wu, aka muddipuppy lived her motto of "Be a Light". Here is more about her in her own words found in her Etsy shop and her blogs -
muddipuppy's Shop Announcement
Hello Wonderful You!

Welcome to muddipuppy! No need to wipe your feet. Poke around and see what you like. Hope you have a lovely visit!
 

All images can be made into cards and prints of different sizes. Feel free to convo me if you want a special piece that you don't see listed.

All proceeds go to raising awareness about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). For more information on CFS, please see my profile.

Proud member of:
SF Etsy Bay Area Street Team
Invisible Diseases Team
Createability Team

muddipuppy work can be seen at:
the delightful Rose and Thorn, outside of Sebastapol, California.
the whimsical Azuca in downtown Los Gatos, California.
the fanciful Kingston Ellis on Napa Street in Sonoma, California.

For more muddistuff: www.muddipuppy.blogspot.com

From her Etsy Profile:

I grew up with paint, yarn, sidewalk chalk, and basically every craft item you could ever imagine all around me. My mom is an artist as well as the most creative person on earth, so whenever there wasn’t something to do, that’s what we did – made stuff. I have continued to make stuff for all of my life. Jack of many media, master of none, I simply make art because it’s good for me. 

I came out of college with the big bright world ahead of me and unexpectedly fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. 14 years later I continue to work at having that big life in the tiny box that this illness has built around me. Art has been a reliable and inspiring companion.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
- Viktor E. Frankl

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), is a serious chronic illness that results in profound fatigue and a number of other painful and debilitating symptoms.

My CFS blog: http://bealightcfsawareness.blogspot.com/

The CDC estimates that approximately 4 million Americans suffer from CFS and has compared the experience to the last four months of having AIDS.

About a quarter of the people with CFS are unemployed or receiving disability.

CFS costs the U.S. economy about $9 billion annually.

-from the US Department of Health (2008)

From her Blogger Profile:

Just a Puppy in the Mud

·         Location: Mountain View : California : United States

About Me

Hello there, lovely person! I am a silly and serious person, dancer, writer, therapist, activist, and friend. I'm particularly good at listening when you are talking about serious things and laughing when you are talking about funny things, mixing colors and convincing carrots to grow. I'm particularly challenged by stopping when I'm supposed to, sleeping through the night and putting things away. I have chronic fatigue syndrome, the Bad kind, and it has changed and made its best attempts to ruin my life. But one must keep soldiering on. So I do, paint brush in hand. Thanks for stopping by.
A fellow friend and teammate shared the news with us last night,

Hi team peeps. I have some very sad news. I recently learned that one of our team members, www.etsy.com/shop/muddipuppy , passed away on Tuesday. She struggled with cfs for nearly 20 years and had gotten worse during the past year or two (including a few hospitalizations). I don’t know the immediate cause of death, but there can be no doubt that the illness itself took an immense, irrevocable toll on her.

She had so many hopes and dreams, and not just for a cure or even a viable treatment for cfs, but dreams of creating safe group housing for cfs patients so we wouldn’t all have to be isolated and alone with this nightmarish disease. she had dedicated herself to raising awareness about the illness and participated in fundraising for research and advocacy as well.

even though we lived in the same town, I only met Amberlin twice; we were both too ill to attend our local support group on any regular basis. I loved the art in her shop and regret I hadn't bought any originals when they were available. 

her favorite phrase was "be a light," to help bring awareness of cfs to others using our own unique talents and abilities (hers being her art). we can all help to honor her memory by doing our best to be a light in any way we can to make the world better for people with any kind of disability, not just cfs.

I’m too distraught right now to write any more, my apologies.

Teams that Amberlin Wu participated in:
Heartsy Help!
Createability Team Etsy
Invisible Diseases
SF Etsy
are the other teams she was on. My heart goes out to them and her family, friends and customers who were lucky enough to have something to remember her by.

I know Createability Team is doing a treasury tribute to her. I don't know what if anything her other teams have planned or what their needs are.
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 News of memorial plans for amberlin, a.k.a. muddipuppy. I learned today that there will be a local memorial service here in mountain view on Sunday Nov, 6 at 2:30 p.m. at the community center. the local support group is planning on creating a memory book of people's stories and reflections to share with her family.


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