“We can’t figure out what’s wrong with you,” doctors told her. “Come back when your symptoms get worse.”
She was finally diagnosed on August 1, 2007 with Wegener’s granulomatosis, a rare disorder that causes blood vessels to enlarge, damaging vital organs such as kidneys and lungs.
Less than three years later and functionally blind in her left eye, Abbott summitted Mount Everest and held a National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD) banner at the summit to raise awareness for rare diseases.
“I shouldn’t be able to do these things,” Abbott said. “For most people with my disease, getting out of bed, walking their dog, and climbing stairs is their Mount Everest.”
The theme of the night is “Beyond Limits”, and Abbott, along with five other speakers, will share how they are overcoming real or conceived limits in their daily lives.
“I just took everything ten feet at a time, by pushing the limit another ten feet,” Abbott said. “That’s how I got up Everest.”
So what’s next for 55-year-old Abbott?
“I’d like to take the banner to the Moon,” she said.
A documentary about Abbott’s crusade called “Banner to the Moon” is set to come out next month. Abbott is excited. Through her high-profile advocacy and storytelling, she hopes to keep one less person from experiencing a similar 14-year medical purgatory.
“People might have these predisposed limits in their brain about things,” Abbott said. “But if they walk up to that limit and take that step and see what happens – you can push that limit one step further. I want to show people by my stories and what I’ve done. What are limits really? Are there limits really?”
Tickets for the evening event, which begins at 6 p.m. with light refreshments and ends at 9 p.m., cost $5 for students under 18, $10 for college students, and $20 for adults. Prices go up by $10 after September 5.
Several more speakers with profound stories to tell will take the stage. Hermosa Beach homeowner Robert Fortunato will talk about his Green Idea House – a net zero energy home he built with his wife based on sustainable living practices picked up during their travels to more than 40 countries.
“What we did was said to be impossible,” Fortunato said. “[The house] harvests as much energy as it uses without pollution.”
“The energy company is paying me to live in my house,” Fortunato said, noting that his house produces surplus energy which he sells back to the grid. But beyond the apparent environmental and fiscal benefits, the house has inspired the local community with a tried-and true message: living less wastefully in an urban setting is not only possible but easy. The Green Idea House has seen more than 5,000 visitors and website traffic is around 70,000 hits.
Tulita Elementary school teacher Julie Tamashiro will speak about her unique teaching practice of using art as a foundation for all subjects of learning. Tamashiro and her students were the subjects of Room 19, a documentary about their curriculum and the students’ experience with art.
Physician and educator Michelle Charfen will talk about a lifestyle practice that has revolutionized her interpersonal relationships. She holds “unconditional positive regard” for herself and others. After becoming a mother, she adopted an empathy-based parenting model whereby parents observe, support and coach children through problems instead of using a typical punishment and reward system. Charfen believes this acceptance approach can be applied to all relationships, with positive outcomes.
Singer-songwriter-musician Brian Joseph will open the night with a song about untethered possibilities that he wrote when his niece was born 12 years ago. “King of Echo Park” is a lullaby about “how you can be whatever you want to be,” Joseph said. “Children and adults get told all the time, in subtle ways or right to their face, that they can’t do something. It sounds unbelievably cheesy, but it’s the right message – your dreams can be realized.”
The music of the night does not stop there. Hermosa resident Sabina Sandoval will lead a drum circle to close the event.
A self-proclaimed bohemian free spirit who holds a master’s degree in music, 52-year-old Sandoval has always had rhythm. She started as a percussionist for Pat Benatar and Fleetwood Mac, and after an accident temporarily hampered the use of her legs besides walking, she started playing with her hands.
“It was the Earth reinventing me as that native drummer,” Sandoval recalled, speaking of her Native American Mayan ancestry. “When you think you’re going to go this way, the universe makes you go the other way.”
“Women were the first drummers,” she said. “They would drum to communicate to other tribes and to celebrate victory after men went out hunting. It isn’t just hippies on the corner smoking dope and getting high. This is sacred. We bring out a hundred drums on that Sunday in Hermosa Beach.”
Sandoval’s mission is to use drum circles to confirm others of their “pocket”, a phrase used colloquially by musicians to speak of being in sync and never missing a beat. The pocket, Sandoval says, is an innate, grounding force within all of us that keeps us centred. She believes awareness of one’s pocket is an essential part of overcoming hardship and can be applied in a variety of situations, from overcoming road rage to standing up to bullies.
“The pocket to me is the source,” Sandoval said. “It’s something that guides us. It’s your north, your compass that tells you where to go.”
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