Designing Her Future
“I realize that by bringing my art form into people’s lives, I can turn a house into a home. That’s huge. Having a beautiful home is one of life’s big dreams. To be part of someone’s dream through design is amazing.” ~ Kelly Hogarth
As a child, Kelly Hogarth spent most of her free time drawing and reading. She remembers being more fragile and sickly than her classmates, so these quieter activities were perfect for her.
“I was always getting a cold or the flu,” Kelly says. “In the winter, I had to spend recess and lunchtime inside, while the other kids were playing outside. That was alright, I could draw or read. I was okay with that. I understood why I had to stay inside.”
Kelly knew that a weakened immune system was one of the side effects that came with the 28 rounds of chemotherapy she received as a child for Ewing’s sarcoma. A rare cancer that forms in the bone or soft tissue, Ewing’s sarcoma normally appears in teenage boys. Discovering the cancer in a five-year girl was surprising for everyone.
“My mom was on a business trip and my dad and I were visiting my grandma,” says Kelly. “I was playing on her kitchen floor, when grandma noticed that my jaw looked swollen. At first they just assumed I had the mumps.”
Because the tumour was growing in Kelly’s jawbone, there was a severe risk that the cancer would spread to her brain, which is why her treatment called for 14 rounds of chemotherapy both before and after a 16-hour surgery to remove the cancerous bone. During surgery, the doctor took the fibula from Kelly’s right calf, broke it and re-fashioned it into a jawbone, which is secured by bolts and screws.
Kelly bears the scars of her battle to this day. She still has no bottom teeth on that side of her mouth and she recently underwent advanced surgery to build up her jawline.
“Cancer really shaped who I am today,” says Kelly. “I’ve always been hugely into art—sculpting, drawing, painting—whatever the medium, I loved it.”
She means this quite literally and figuratively.
It was during the many inside-times that young Kelly honed her skills as an artist. In grade 11, she realized that a career in art may not be feasible, so she began exploring other avenues to express herself while also making a living. That’s when Kelly decided to pursue a career in interior design.
Kelly is now studying interior design at Lethbridge College with the help of a Kids Cancer Care Derek Wandzura Memorial Scholarship. With your support, Kelly was able to off-set some of the significant expenses related to studying interior design.
“That $2,500 went straight to my text books and art supplies,” says Kelly. “I still have all my text books and I’ll always cherish them and refer to them in the future.”
But the scholarship represents more than a monetary award for Kelly. “It wasn’t until I started filling out my scholarship forms that I got my first true taste and rush of excitement for my college experience,” says Kelly. “This scholarship is far more than a dollar amount inscribed on an incredibly crafted sheet of paper. It is my excitement, a smile, a butterfly ready to break free from my stomach. It is a physical piece of my future.”
As Kelly prepares to enter her second year of college, she is starting to narrow her career focus. She knows she wants to work in residential, rather than industrial or commercial, design. The prospect of staging show homes or residential homes for sale is appealing, but so too is the idea of creating beautiful living spaces for her clients. In reality, Kelly thinks she’ll probably open a design firm specializing in several streams at once.
Whatever Kelly does, it will be new and it will be fresh. Quintessentially Kelly. “We’re always pushing boundaries in design school,” she says. “And really, there are no boundaries until you push beyond them. You create new boundaries by defying the old.”
Thank you! Your support is helping young people like Kelly design their futures through the Kids Cancer Care Derek Wandzura Memorial Scholarship Fund, an endowed fund managed by The Calgary Foundation.