WELCOME!
This website was originally created to share my marketing
and design (and life) portfolio with people needing
assistance with their creative projects.
I am no longer available to help with outside projects as
my work and life have filled me right up ... in a good way!
My Breast Cancer Experience
In
December of 2003 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 42,
the same age my mother was when she was first diagnosed.
Interestingly enough we were diagnosed 25 years apart. During
this time I kept an online diary – affectionately nicknamed Bald
Wendy – to keep my family and friends updated as I progressed
through my treatments.
I shared candid thoughts about how I was feeling physically and
emotionally, and displayed many photos including my head being
shaved in preparation for chemo, the team at the cancer center, and
even photos of my nieces and nephew painting my head like an Easter
egg.
The site was shared by hundreds of people – many of whom I didn’t
know but who thanked me for sharing my story so candidly and
honestly. Because I understood first hand the impact a breast cancer
diagnosis can have on a patient and their family, I decided to
create a similar site that would enable others to stay connected as
well.
In 2004 I broke away from the corporate routine
to start the non-profit organization
BreastCancerStories.org – an online community where people going
through breast cancer can stay in touch with loved ones and with one
another while going through treatment.
You can read my story here.
My Life
I grew up on the seacoast of NH surrounded by music,
especially 4-part a cappella music sung in the barbershop style. I sang
with my sister Debbie in two Harmony,
Incorporated International championship quartets –
Heart’s Delight (1989)
and Limited Edition (1995) – and co-founded and co-directed
New England
Voices in Harmony, also with my sister Debbie. I was honored in 2005
to sing and win yet another quartet championship with
Exhilaration.
Our father, Jim Dodge, was
the founder and past director of
Sounds of the
Seacoast (previously known as The Harborbelles) – a chorus I am
now very privileged to direct – and recently retired as the
director of the
Seacoast Vocal Union, a men’s barbershop chorus also based in Portsmouth.
Our mother Joanne Dodge founded
Senior Moments Theater Group – a group of seniors who put on an annual
play at Seacoast Repertory Theater and travel throughout the greater seacoast
area writing and producing (often quite humorous) plays that address senior
issues.
I live in Eliot, ME with my wonderful husband,
Kevin and our very cute dog,
Bailey. Our (combined)
kids – Erienne,
Brittany,
Sean and
Ryan – are all grown
and (mostly) on their own. ;>)
When not engaged in all of the above I love to spend time in
my garden and to
sail with Kevin. Outdoors on the seacoast is just priceless.
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