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Painting to pass the time

Sometimes, you don’t realize you have a particular talent until later on in life. For Annalee Timmons, 54, that moment came last April when she picked up a paintbrush and began to create.
lung transplant woman
Annalee Timmons took up painting this spring as she waits for a lung transplant. She has even sold a few of them as they were on display at the Flower Shoppe.

Sometimes, you don’t realize you have a particular talent until later on in life.

For Annalee Timmons, 54, that moment came last April when she picked up a paintbrush and began to create.

It became a daily ritual for her and the walls in her bedroom began to fill up fast. Now she is starting to see life through the eyes of an artist.

Timmons spends a lot of time in her bedroom. She is essentially homebound. After 35 years as a smoker, she developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and now requires continuous oxygen to help her breathe.

She has been waiting patiently for almost four years for a double-lung transplant.

“In a situation like this where you’re trapped in a small environment, time can crawl, so doing something like this that you’re totally enthralled with and passes the time, that’s a real good thing,” she said.

Timmons lives with her husband in a beautiful home east of Westlock. Her room is made even more beautiful by the works of art she creates herself and hangs on her wall. It’s the first thing you notice when you enter the room.

That, and her devoted rescue dog Boo, a miniature pinscher, who is never far from her side.

Technically, Timmons is a professional artist, as several of her paintings have sold after being displayed in the Flower Shoppe. Her home care aid, whom she adores, convinced her to display her work for the public to see and to her surprise, they started selling.

Timmons sits up in her bed as she speaks. Her phone and iPad surround her, along with her art supplies and her dog.

“I coloured a lot and I had a knack for colouring. It was something to do to pass the time. You don’t have to move a lot, it’s relaxing and it passes the hours. So, I kept seeing people having these paint nights, and I thought ‘Wow, I wish I could do that’ and of course I can’t because it’s too strenuous,” said Timmons.

She bought some supplies and started taking online tutorials.

“I loved it. I fell in love with it. It’s so relaxing and I get lost doing it.

“When I’m done I can’t believe I did that,” she said. “I had no idea I could draw ... People who have known me my whole life would laugh their asses off if they knew I could paint or draw. It’s just so not me.”

Organ donation

“I was a smoker for 35 years and was diagnosed with COPD in 2010. In 2012, I was on oxygen full-time. It progressed quickly. In July of 2012, I had to quit working and that was tough. I was a workaholic my whole life, so that was tough,” said Timmons.

All the while she continued to smoke.

It took another 18 months before she could finally put the addiction behind her. She was down to just 70 pounds and ended up in the hospital at the University of Alberta.

That is the first time the word transplant began to be used. She was put on the transplant list and has been waiting ever since.

Timmons isn’t an easy match though.

Her small frame makes it difficult as most donors are males, aged 17 to 25.

She also has Type-O blood, which is a universal donor, but can only accept blood from another Type-O person.

She also has so many antibodies in her blood that she is unable to accept 94 per cent of the population’s blood anyway.

“The good side of that is that when I do get a match, it’s going to be a perfect match,” said Timmons.

“Blood donors and organ donors are a special breed of people and unfortunately there’s not nearly enough of them. You could save somebody, so why wouldn’t you want to.”

Timmons pleads with people to sign their organ donation cards, stressing how small the pool of donations is for not only her, but hundreds of other Albertans who are also on the waiting list for various organs.

Despite the roadblocks that stand in her way, Timmons continues to create new art because it makes her feel good.

She doesn’t feel sorry for her self either.

“I did this to me. I can’t be upset or frustrated or angry at anyone. I did this ... I think with this disease, knowing that I did this to myself, I have to own that.”

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