Nancy Lamott: An Inspiring Story Of Triumph

This site seems to grow by leaps and bounds every day. The membership has probably doubled since I joined last March. Who knew there were so many of us!

My name is Paul and I've had my ileostomy since 1978. At the risk of boring some of you who already read this story when I told it a few months ago, I would like to repeat it for those of you who are new to this site. You might find it inspiring.

As I mentioned, I had my ileostomy done in 1978, which was sort of the dark ages because we were pretty much on our own in trying to figure things out. This was way before the internet and MeetAnOstomate.com. Luckily, we did have a small group that met in Manhattan a few times a year and it reminded us that we were not alone. Sometimes there would be a guest speaker and other times we would just chat among ourselves, exchanging ideas and advice.

Being single and in my mid-twenties at the time, I was one of the younger members of the group so it was rare to find people to talk to who had the same concerns and issues as I did. One day however, despite my reservations, I decided to attend one of the Sunday afternoon meetings. This was probably in the mid 1980's, and at the meeting was a very pretty blonde girl who had just recently had her ileostomy. Being close in age, we gravitated towards each other and started to chat and compare notes. She told me how happy she was to have finally had the surgery and that she hadn't felt so good in years. I'm sure we can all relate to that! She was also a singer and was now able to focus on her musical career instead of her sickness. Her name was Nancy Lamott.

I promised to come and see her perform one day, but unfortunately I never got around to it. One of my big regrets. I would read about Nancy in the newspaper and I was happy to hear how well she was doing, singing at Tavern on the Green, The Algonquin and all the best clubs in New York. She even made it to the White House. Sadly, the last news I read about Nancy was that she passed away in 1995 at age 44.

She was somewhat of an inspiration to me and reminded me that an ostomy should never hold you back from anything you want to do. I still listen to her CDs to this day and continue to enjoy her beautiful voice. I would recommend her music to anyone who loves a vocalist who doesn't need smoke, background dancers, and a laser light show to sing a song. A piano, bass, and drums will be fine, thank you!

So that's my story which I wanted to share and perhaps, in the process, introduce you to a wonderful vocalist who was one of us.

Thanks for reading this and attached is an interview with Nancy which I found on YouTube.

Paul

Nancy Lamott: An Inspiring Story of Triumph

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