By KEVIN SCHMIT, Each day Herald (Arlington Heights)
NAPERVILLE, In poor health. (AP) — Sarah Ferguson Potter’s lone tattoo, a lotus flower, rests peacefully on the within of her left arm.
It’s a continuing reminder that, just like the flower itself, magnificence can emerge from the muddiest waters as soon as it reaches the sunshine.
The Naperville resident fell into her personal darkish depths in July 2020 when her husband died unexpectedly after problems from a extreme bout with pancreatitis. Scott was solely 36 years outdated and left behind Sarah and two younger kids.
Scott was a filmmaker and artist who had been engaged on a documentary to lift consciousness about acute flaccid myelitis or AFM, a uncommon neurological illness that causes muscle weak point and typically paralysis, the Each day Herald stories. That, too, seemingly was left behind.
Political Cartoons
However after her journey to search out the sunshine, Sarah Potter has taken up the undertaking as a tribute to Scott’s devotion and inspiration — and the legacy he left behind for her and their kids Logan, 7, and Ellie, 3.
A speech pathologist for 15 years, Potter knew little about filmmaking when she made the leap of quitting her job in Indian Prairie Unit District 204 on the finish of final college yr to decide to a brand new profession.
One of many first issues she did was discover a becoming title for the documentary. It’s now known as “When the Lotus Blooms” and can concentrate on AFM along with Potter’s exploration of her personal private loss.
“I reprioritized how I wish to be spending my time,” stated Potter, 40. “I wanted to be doing one thing that was extra significant and pleasurable for me, but additionally one thing that will give me flexibility to be there for my children.
“The bottom line is discovering a brand new path,” she stated. “You don’t should be pleased about how you bought there. However to go ahead, it’s a must to discover a manner that’s going to be significant to you.”
Potter started a Kickstarter marketing campaign to fund “When the Lotus Blooms” with data that’s additionally discovered at whenthelotusblooms.com. She should increase all the $100,000 purpose by March 19 or the contributed cash is returned.
Greater than $21,000 has been raised for the reason that marketing campaign began on Feb. 15. Sponsors will add $10,000 if 200 backers be a part of within the subsequent week, making the following handful of days important.
“I’m going to complete it in no matter manner I can,” she stated. “As soon as we get this Kickstarter, we hope to get some grants and sponsorships, and actually simply use these assets to make a distribution-worthy movie that would win at movie festivals and get picked up by a streaming service.”
The months after Scott’s dying have been about mere survival for Sarah. She returned to work within the fall however struggled to deal with grief whereas additionally determining learn how to be a speech pathologist throughout distant studying in the course of a pandemic.
Every part modified over Thanksgiving weekend in 2020. Some individuals who labored with Scott on the documentary inspired Potter to journey to Hawaii to take part in a special manufacturing. She accepted the provide regardless of preliminary doubts.
“I brushed it off at first, nevertheless it gave me an opportunity to see what Scott’s world was like,” Potter stated. “It was an unbelievable expertise, and on prime of that they adopted me with a digital camera and put collectively this wonderful video about why I used to be there and why this film must be executed.”
Maybe it was the tranquility of the setting, however she took like a fish to water and developed a love of filmmaking. She has since labored on a number of productions all through the nation.
“I’ve truly needed to flip down work as a result of I’ve been so busy,” she stated. “It’s actually been nice for me.”
Scott had traveled to California to movie an interview with a household coping with AFM, however past some enhancing he had executed, most of what stays of the documentary is an inventory of unfinished tasks written on a whiteboard of their home.
Proper now, she and her workforce are narrowing the main target of the story, however they hope to renew filming in the summertime.
Between at times, she might get one other tattoo.
This one could be of a small ocean wave to commemorate Hawaii and, just like the lotus, her rebirth.
“Grief continues to be sort of a taboo topic,” she stated. “It may be isolating for individuals to undergo medical points or the dying of a cherished one.
“We actually wish to create an area for individuals to have a dialogue and to provide visibility to these going by it.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
