Lilly Lambert reflects on her fist six months at Cayr

Cayr’s Cancer & Arts Project Manager, Lilly Lambert, reflects on her first six months at the charity.

It has gone by so quickly, and in the typical cliche, I can’t believe it has only been six months! 

I started with Cayr in April this year as the Cancer & Arts project manager. This year, our Pink Stitch project is creating a quilt handmade by people living with and beyond breast cancer. Right now, we are in the middle of our Stitch Together workshops, where all the rosettes made and contributed are being stitched together to form the quilt. 

Working on the quilt with people across the country who have or have had breast cancer, seeing their artwork and hearing many of their stories, has been an honour. The thought that has gone into each hexagon, how each tells the stories of the artists behind them, how each stitch has been hand made with time, reflection and commitment. All of these things are so personal to each contributor, and in giving them to this piece of art, we have been able to achieve something so powerful. Breast cancer changes us, in many, many ways. Personal, unique and individual ways and in shared ways that bring you into a community of people who, for me at least, are some of the most understanding and thoughtful people I could have met. 

The quilt, stitched together by a myriad of experiences, changes and emotions, is a piece of art I am so happy will exist. A testament to each and every person changed by breast cancer, in ways bigger than the artwork and smaller than each stitch. 

It has only been six months since I started working at Cayr and we have almost finished the quilt already. I can’t wait to see what we will do in the next six.