Monroe woman creates pictorial journals on two sticks

MONROE — Judy Valente marks important events on two wooden sticks.

The Monroe woman has a walking stick and a cancer stick.

She bought the first one, the round walking stick, at an auction in May 2017. It's about 5 feet long.

“It’s decorative and support,” said Valente, 79, an avid walker. “It helps me hike. I use it all the time. I can put it on the ground and pull myself up."

Valente also uses the walking stick to record her hikes and the sights she's seen.

"I saw someone had one years ago with some things on it. I decided I was going to put a dot for every hike, just to keep a record," Valente said.

Today, the stick bears dozens of colorful painted dots. Each dot represents a "major walk."

“Two to three miles is a major walk, not just a mile,” Valente said. "I belong to the Lake Erie Metropark system. There are 13 parks. I take classes at Lake Erie and Oakwood metroparks. They are wonderful walks. People just don’t know about it. It’s nice to meet people who like the same things you do."

Valente also paints images on the walking stick to record what she's seen on her hikes. But like the hikes themselves, the “things” must be big, and she must have witnessed them herself.

Making the cut were April 8’s total solar eclipse and a huge eagle nest she saw at Sterling State Park.

“It’s a reminder of good things that have happened," she said.

Her walking stick also bears images of a full moon and a fish Valente once found trapped in a big chunk of ice. She rescued the fish and put it back in the water.

“That was pretty unusual,” she said. “I have an albino deer that I took a picture of at Kensington Metropark, all these different things for the seven years that I’ve personally seen. A Native American guide in Indianapolis told me about a pictorial journal. This is a pictorial journey on a walking stick.”

Valente isn’t an artist, but as a longtime elementary school teacher, she said she became good at copying images.

“I take my time. I copy very well,” she said.

Valente’s walking stick has a large segment with no hiking dots.

“Judy shared she was going through chemo at that time and was too sick to be out walking,” said area wildlife photographer Charlie Rumschlag, who met Valente recently while both were walking at Sterling State Park.

Valente fought a long battle with cancer. To keep her mind off the illness, her daughter suggested she create a second stick, a cancer stick.

“It was very depressing. My daughter said, do something, make a cancer stick, represent your journey through this. I had to do something while I was going through those treatments. It keeps your mind off the reality of what might happen to you. You have to find things that are more joyful. It’s not an easy thing," Valente said.

The cancer stick came from Amazon.com and records each of her treatments.

“I’ve had over 60 radiations, five internal radiations, six or seven chemos,” Valente said.

For each chemotherapy treatment, Valente painted a bird that she personally saw, including Luke, an eagle at Lake Erie Metropark. For each radiation treatment, she painted a bird's egg. The eggs range from very small hummingbird eggs to large osprey eggs. She painted some of the images right in her hospital bed.

Eventually, Valente's doctors put her on an immune therapy drug that she credits with saving her life.

“It’s pretty new. It gets your immune system working again. I’ve had 13 treatments. It’s what saved my life," Valente said. "I have very good doctors at ProMedica. They took an interest and really helped me to live."

Each of her immune therapy infusions is remembered on the stick by a painted bird feather. Recently, Valente's cancer went into remission.

“They doctor said, Judy, you don’t have any cancer cells. They’re gone. I’m in remission. I don’t have any active cancer cells in me," Valente said. "I’m so grateful I have so much extra time.”

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Valente was a teacher for 33 years in several districts. She retired in 2007 as a first grade teacher at Jefferson Schools. Today, in addition to walking, she enjoys going to bird banding and owl prowl events. She doesn't plan to start any more sticks.

“They turned out very well," she said. "They are a little boost."

— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe woman creates pictorial journals on two sticks