Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendy Dunham.
Hi Wendy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Oh boy! Where do I begin? When I think about my life, my past, and where I am today, I have to say I am blessed to be able to do what I do. Being a mother, a wife and a small business owner has not come easy, but my experiences have definitely made me a stronger person. I have had a lifelong of health issues and as a result, challenges that I never thought I would have to face. My passion for designing/making handcrafted jewelry has helped me thr0ugh the hardest times.
I love learning about each gemstone’s properties and incorporating that into my pieces. For example: Amethyst (February’s birthstone) promotes calmness and balance while Garnets (January’s birthstone) promotes energy, creativity and strength. I love the flexibility of being able to make whatever I want whenever I want. If I’m up at 3 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep, I head right to my jewelry table. I have found that my pain tolerance is better when I am calm and working on a jewelry project. If I’m having a rough day, you can usually find me at my jewelry table creating a new necklace, bracelet, or pair of earrings. It is my “me time” where I can tune out the noise, the stress, and the physical pain of my everyday life and focus on something other than myself.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I remember one of my first significant challenges at the age of 13. On a 4th of July, I went swimming at my best friend‘s house while waiting for that night’s fireworks. After an hour or so of swimming, I developed a bad headache which got progressively worse as hours went by. By midnight, I was rushed to the ER. After numerous tests I was informed that I had had an aneurysm in my spine that had burst. I was eventually diagnosed with Spinal Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM), which is a rare and abnormal tangle of blood vessels which deprives the spinal tissues of oxygen, and the vessels deteriorate or die. The pressure of holding my breath while swimming under water had caused one of the AVMs to burst. Unfortunately, my AVM was (and still is) wrapped in and around my spinal cord so surgery was not an option. If they tried, they knew it could paralyze me from the waist down. There was really nothing they could do except monitor it and hope for the best. I continued life as “normal”, but I had to quit all sports and any other activities where I might have the potential of getting hurt. I had a ticking time bomb in my spine.
Thankfully, I wasn’t in any pain during that time, and I spent the rest of my high school and college years without further health complications. At the age of 30, I got married and by the age of 36, I became pregnant with my first and only son. It was a high-risk pregnancy due to the AVM, so I was admitted to the hospital at 31 weeks with extremely high blood pressure. At 32 weeks I had an emergency C-section and my 2.5 lbs. baby boy, DAX was born. I was in heaven!
As the years went on and my health seemed fine. I was living like everyone else until in my late 30’s, I started noticing some worrisome physical changes. I started losing my balance, tripping, and limping. My ability to walk and my balance continued to get worse. During that same time, I ended up over-stretching my right adductor muscle. As weeks and months passed, the pain just intensified, and doctors couldn’t figure out why. I could see my skin color and texture changing along with severe swelling of my extremities. Wearing clothes or even taking a shower became a nightmare because anything that touched me would cause a horrible burning sensation. I couldn’t even lay in bed with a sheet over me without feeling like I was being eaten alive by fire ants! After multiple doctor visits and exams, I was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)/Allodynia which causes extreme sensitivity to touch and extreme pain. Along with the Allodynia came all sorts of crazy side effects. If my skin got the slightest of nicks or cuts, they would turn into horrible wounds that would take months to heal because of lack of blood flow to my extremities. I learned that CRPS is ranked among the most painful of all medical problems and has been nicknamed the ‘suicide disease’ because there is no cure and limited effective treatments.
This horrible pain along with my Spinal AVM finally bound me to a wheelchair. I could no longer walk; I was in excruciating pain and had blank outs and foggy brain all of the time. Sometimes I wouldn’t even know what day it was. I was desperate and losing my mind. I could no longer work due to all of my mental and physical issues so I would just stay home, day after day falling into a deep depression. I could not handle feeling worthless and unproductive. Out of desperation and the need to feel “normal” again, I decided to get back into making/designing jewelry, something I enjoyed dearly prior to falling ill. I remember the day my husband helped me pull out the old dusty drawers and boxes filled with gemstones, pearls and beautiful stones in all shapes, colors and sizes that I had collected over the years. I had silver and gold wire and all the tools that I needed to start up again. I felt inspired and excited again!
I had been making and selling my jewelry for over 15 years before I got sick and thought that now was the perfect time to get back into it. I had lots of free time since I wasn’t working and had the inventory to start up again. I learned to work around my pain. I knew that I could create at any time of the day even when I couldn’t sleep at 3:00 in the morning.
My passion for designing and creating jewelry, working with my hands and feeling productive again filled that void I had been feeling for so long. It allowed me to feel free from my physical disabilities even if just for a moment in time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My collection can be described as elegant, yet playful and versatile. I feel that each of my designs represent my outlook in life and my desire to overcome. I personally select all beads, stones, and metals ensuring only the highest quality is used. I take pride in knowing that my designs come from the heart. My creations bring out the best in me, as a mother, a wife, a friend and an entrepreneur.
You can find my designs at www.wendydunhamjewelry.com. To get in touch with me, you can either email me at wendy@wendydunhamjewelry.com or call/text me at 214-354-9301.
I am happy to make custom orders and most designs can be made smaller or larger and with different stones.
What do you think about happiness?
My happiness comes from having incredible loving and supportive family and friends. I finally feel productive again. I am creating something that brings joy to others as much as it does to me! I thank everyone who has given me the opportunity to share my designs. I can assure you I create them from the heart!
Contact Info:
- Email: wendy@wendydunhamjewelry.com
- Website: www.wendydunhamjewelry.com
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/wendydunhamjewelry/
