Fight Like a Viking!

This is the new vision Aimee Curry carries within her heart, her mind and her soul. Her formerly shy, quiet and gentle spirit has been transformed by the excruciating pain of loss, the brutal attack on her life and love that never dies. Her enemies are the grief from the traumatic loss of her husband and the cancer cells that invaded her body.

Just a few years ago, the idea having to fight never occurred to Amy. She and her husband of 12 years were very much in love and basking over the recent birth of their second son seven weeks earlier. Their then two-year old son was, to them, a miracle after trying for 10 years to conceive. Life couldn’t have been any better. 

However, the picture of this happy family was suddenly  shattered, when her husband was murdered by a night-time intruder in their home. Her life was forever changed.

For the first year afterwards, Amiee held on by a thread — the loving support of her family and friends. They helped her survive the awful “firsts” of her husband’s birthday, their anniversary, the first Christmas without him. She could barely eat and dropped 60 pounds in a short time. It appeared as if grief was taking its toll, and she didn’t have the strength or the will to fight it.

As the year was coming to a close, Amiee decided it was time to hold the Memorial celebration for her husband, who had been very outgoing and more daring than Aimee. She planned to have it just like he had requested during one of their “what if…” talks while he was alive.

“Terry said he wanted a Viking funeral at his family’s secluded home in the Arkansas mountains.

He always loved the trees and the beautiful pond nearby – and wanted his body placed in a boat that was to be set on fire and put adrift in the pond. He was serious. I told him that was now against the law, but we could at least have him cremated and go for a boat ride. So, to honor him, we all showed up dressed like Vikings and said our farewells according to his wishes.  It was very moving and very Terry.”

With that behind her, Aimee decided to finally address her unrelenting health issues, hoping it would get people off her back about losing so much weight. She was again, unprepared for the second blow that life was about to deal her: Colorectal cancer, stage IV. Immediate chemo and radiation

God must have heard her prayer.  One day Aimee was sitting in the infusion room getting her chemo,  Tenaciously Teal’s Executive Director and her little red wagon of Care Packs entered Aimee’s life. Tarah shared her story and talked about hope and love and all the wonderful support programs Tenaciously Teal offered. Aimee thought – “Tarah had received a stage 4 Ovarian Cancer diagnosis herself. Now here she is, a walking talking missionary bringing hope and love to people with cancer.” That’s when a little spark of something began to stir in Aimee. That’s when she decided she was going to  fight.

“I do have hope now. The tumors on my liver and colon have shrunk 75%, thanks to the chemo.

I’ll be having surgery soon to hopefully remove the rest. I decided it was time for my “Empowerment Shoot” that Tarah told me about. I was ready to start living again (and needed all the help I could get!)

So on a cool, misty May morning by a shimmering lake, three women dressed as Viking Warriors climbed into a boat and went adrift. Tarah, Aimee’s sister, her best friend and the amazing volunteers of Twisted Medium Photography, witnessed Aimee claim her power, her strength and her determination to fight the fight of her life and stand up to cancer. . During the shoot, Amiee closed her eyes and saw her husband smiling at her.   

“Suddenly I realized this is what my husband wanted for me. He has given me the gift of a vision, an image to help me be strong, to be the warrior I need and want to be. The Empowerment Shoot was about opening and accepting this gift. I will honor it by Fighting Like a Viking!”