The story of Tamela
Hello, My name is Tamela.
I am an award winning and internationally known mixed-media artist known as Tamela Blessed, who’s been given a second chance and blessed by God’s Grace. I speak about my health crisis and share the story God’s given me to tell. I am an advocate for Angioma Alliance and Art for Angioma Alliances and make it one of my life purposes to spread awareness about my rare disease Cerebral Cavernous Angioma and the loving and healing power of Jesus Christ.
I’ve had many people ask me why I sign my paintings Tamela Blessed. I am blessed to be alive and to share my amazing story of faith, hope, and miracles!
In 2011, I was diagnosed with a genetic brain disease called Cavernous Angioma. Basically, meaning that my brain has abnormal blood vessels that resemble raspberries that leak blood and cause neurological life threatening deficits. At age 44, my life changed in the blink of an eye. I had an excruciating headache flying home from a business trip. It was so bad that one of the stewardesses sat next to me and helped me during the fight. I believe she was an angel on earth. I awoke the next day with double vision. After a few months of what seemed like never-ending doctor appointments, the conclusion was that a bleeding cluster of blood vessels in the Pons of my brainstem was inoperable. I was told to live every day to the fullest because there was no way of knowing what deficits the tumor would cause – though more than likely, death. In this short time I suffered double vision, drooping in my face, trouble swallowing and major fatigue.
It was a very dark time in my life, but without this trial, I would have never found God’s light. Everything became beautiful! Colors were vibrant and nature was mesmerizing. Having been baptized at this time, I felt such peace and turned all my worries and doubts over to God. I whole-heartedly gave myself to Him. I started reading my Bible for the first time in my life. I lost myself in journaling, writing poetry, and taking photographs. Every time I turned around, I felt blessed. I knew I was in the arms of God and felt His love and protection.
After a few months of literally living in the moment, I received a miraculous phone call! A cousin, whom I hadn’t talked to in 25 years, heard through a family member what was happening with my health. She got in touch with me to explain that she and her daughter were both diagnosed with Cavernous Angioma in 1996 and 1997. They both had surgeries and were doing great. Her daughter had originally been told that her tumor was inoperable, but after months of praying and searching for help, they found a world renowned surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona who successfully removed her bleeding tumor and saved her life. If it wouldn’t have been for her calling me, I would have never known where to go! God was directing me and working in my life! I then received another answered prayer, in 2003, just a year after my mother’s passing, my sister, Angela, suddenly passed in her sleep of a seizure that was said to be caused by epilepsy. She was only 38. Her and my Mom were both so young when they passed, and with no other siblings, the years after their passings were spent lonely, bitter and angry. My heart couldn’t except that they both were gone. However, I had yet another answered prayer from God. I had some validation that her unexpected passing was caused by Cavernous Angioma. Now that I know what side of the family this stems from, I can begin to bring awareness to future generations. I wish Angela could have been correctly diagnosed. I think she had something to do with helping me, because that is what big sisters always do, take care of their little sisters! I know she’s been walking beside be during this journey.
All of my medical records were sent to Barrows Neurological Institute and I waited a few weeks to hear the verdict. Finally in January of 2012 we drove 22 hours to have an “impossible” brainstem surgery. I had never met this Surgeon and we met with him only 6 hours before my surgery, but I felt that God had directed my steps to there so everything would be okay. I thought I would rather die trying than not trying at all. Four days after a miraculously successful brainstem surgery, the surgeon discovered I had another tumor on my spine that needed to removed before it would cause paralysis. It wasn’t part of my plan to have two surgeries while I was there, but God also had His hand in this one! It is a very difficult surgery and Dr. Spetzler knew that there were limited surgeons who could do it. All of the doctors at Barrow described my recover as miraculous! After almost a month there, I returned home and started five long months of occupational, speech, and physical therapy. A year after those two surgeries, I had one of my eyeballs realigned to help correct double vision, a deficit of the bleeding. My eyeball was stuck in the corner of my eye socket after brain stem surgery. The eye surgeon told me there was more than a 50% chance it wouldn’t work, and I told him I already couldn’t see out of my eye so I really had nothing to lose. I had strabismus surgery and after my eye was swollen shut for close to six months. When it decided to open, it had realigned perfectly! It opened and bloomed like a flower it was indeed a beautiful thing to see! My vision was 75% corrected! My vision is only distorted in one direction, but that’s perfectly okay with me! The outcome was entirely more than what was expected! The surgeon was amazed and told me that the hand of God was on me and it was amazing and unbelievable concerning everything that had happened to me and all that I had overcome.
I love to paint flowers because it reminds me of the time and patience it took me to be still and wait on the unknown. All of my healing inside and out was a lesson from God that everything is in His control! Flowers sprout from darkness and grow towards the light. I often use black in my paintings to express that beauty can stem from darkness and darkness can lead to something beautiful. It also represents the blooming of my eye after six months. I was wrapped in a dark cocoon so that I could be stopped, redirected, and bloom into the person I was meant to be. In God’s timing, He released me to spread my wings and fly. At my low times, God never fails to send an amazing human being, a beautiful butterfly, or a bird my way just to keep me encouraged. I have a better appreciation for life and all of my senses. I believe that all things are possible, and to never quit praying and believing! I can truly say that God has found a way for me to share what He has done, to witness and give an account of all He has put into my head, heart, and hands. With these trying times and the long road to recovery, I would have never lost myself in color and picked up a paint brush! Painting makes my soul happy and my spirit grateful! All the beautiful and vibrant colors make me feel alive and give me a deep connection with God and all of his creation.
I hope that through my creations, I can bring beauty to your eyes – to open up your heart, to bring warmth, love and light wherever you decide to display it. I want it to remind you of how precious life is and of it’s limitless possibilities. I pour my heart into every piece in hopes that they will touch souls. I’m unsure of the future battles I’ll experience with this disease, but I am certain that I will not let them defeat or define me! I hope I can set an example of what it means to live in faith and to allow God to work and transform your life no matter how old you are or what your past has been like. God’s love and forgiveness is real! Jesus is alive!
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”Matthew 19:26
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