Hi, I’m Ephemera Fae. Thank you so much for taking a moment to hear my story. Whether you donate, share, or simply send kind thoughts my way, I’m truly grateful you’re here.
I’m an interdisciplinary social practice artist — a muralist, painter, poet, illustrator, designer, video creator, educator, tarot enthusiast, and community-builder. My life’s work is about bringing people together through creativity and shared space. I believe deeply in beauty, connection, and the healing power of art.
In 2023, I earned my master’s degree from Wayne State and completed several large-scale murals that I’m incredibly proud of. I was working on another promising project when, in the middle of preparing the second round of designs, I received a life-altering diagnosis: Stage 1 hormone-positive breast cancer, with spread to surrounding tissue.
Thankfully, it appears the cancer hasn’t reached my lymph nodes. But on June 12, I will undergo a double mastectomy with aesthetic flat closure.
This diagnosis has turned my life upside down. Since learning the news, I’ve had to step away from multiple mural commissions — work that was not only creatively fulfilling, but also financially stabilizing. Recovery from this surgery will be slow and arduous. For at least the first month, I won’t even be able to draw in my sketchbook, let alone return to large-scale painting.
I’m incredibly lucky to have a support network rallying around me. My two sisters are each taking two weeks off work (unpaid) to care for me during the most difficult part of recovery. My mom, chosen family, and wonderful friends are helping me navigate each step. My little sister’s stepmom, Amy, is helping me with fundraiser (thank you, Amy!). Plus, I’ll have a “support needs” group chat, where I can request a need or want, and my loved ones can help with whatever they can, when they can. Their love is keeping me grounded. And now, I’m reaching out to my broader community for help too.
What I’m Asking For
This fundraiser will help cover:
- Daily living expenses like groceries, personal care, and transportation
- A modest stipend to support my sisters while they take unpaid time off to care for me
- Basic supplies for healing and comfort during recovery
Thanks to Medicaid, my surgery is covered — but healing well requires more than medical care alone. Your support will directly help me rest, recover, and return to my creative work and teaching.
Some More About Me
Before this diagnosis, I was skilled at finding gratitude and seeing beauty in the mundane. I had the perspective of glancing back from the future and seeing how the difficult stones I traversed would then appear as a planned and necessary path. Between COVID, grad school, and a prior head injury, I felt I had lost that, but cancer gave this perspective back to me.
Two months before my diagnosis I was going over and over in my mind about a personal medical decision. I’m gender fluid, which can be hard to describe. To recall a jingle, sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don’t — and sometimes I’m not even a candy bar at all! Yes, that metaphor probably dates me. (All you Gen-Zers are welcome to YouTube the 90s Almond Joy commercial.)
For years I wondered if top surgery would ever feel like an option I could face. I admitted to my sister Lisa how scared I am of surgery, and that I’d probably never actually go through with it, even though it’d probably improve my mental health. I said to her, “Well hey, maybe I’ll get breast cancer and then it won’t be up to me.” I already had breast cancer at the time, and I didn’t know it! The Universe is so strange and beautiful and wild…. Extra wild.
Even with all that, it still took me some time and multiple conversations with different members of my care team to decide on the double mastectomy. I’m choosing to move forward with aesthetic flat closure, and with that comes a new relationship to femininity, to style, to identity — and being able to wear a plunging neckline!
While I heal, I plan to apply for teaching jobs, reopen my Fiverr for design and illustration work, build a Kickstarter, and continue developing my illustrated tarot and oracle decks, that I feature regularly on my Patreon . My creative coworking group is relocating to Karma Café this summer, and I’m dreaming up new ways to nurture that community as I recover.
Every Bit Helps
If you can contribute financially, know that your donation goes directly toward keeping me fed, safe, and supported through this vulnerable time. If you’re unable to donate, sharing this campaign or sending love, encouragement, or good vibes is just as meaningful.
From the bottom of my heart: thank you. For showing up. For believing in artists. For holding space. For helping me heal.
With love and gratitude,
Ephemera Fae