How many people do you know who survive four brain tumors, a stroke, and a grand mal seizure? Today’s blog shares bits and pieces of a phenomenal female artist and author who lives her life inspired by cancer; the proof is in her art.
Where it Began
Since grade school in the 70s, Kelly Swingle had always imagined herself in a corporate-level profession. She may have had no idea what it was, but she knew she would have it one day!
In high school, she knew she wanted to be like the people she saw on TV: someone taking the escalator in a high-rise building with all the glitz and glamour. She didn’t know what she would be doing, but she knew she wanted to wear a two-piece suit and high heels.
As a youngster, she was incredibly creative and could draw and paint. She was so good; her aunt believed in her magical abilities and entered painting and drawing poster contests, and Kelly would always bring home awards. While highly artistic, she was also competitive and very athletic.
As a teen, she and her brother would take a train ride from Ohio to Arkansas to attend Motocross events, where she raced her dirtbike. She was always outside into something as a tomboy, and her competitive nature eventually led her to skiing in the winter months.
Finding Her Way
In High School, Kelly worked in the ladies’ department for a Value City Department Store in Heath, Ohio. It’s where folks witnessed her wildly artistic abilities because she painted storefront windows with Christmas scenes as a side hustle on the weekends. It gave Kelly extra money to spend on Christmas. The painting of “CareBears,” a popular cartoon from the 80s, remains a standout scene to Kelly’s memory bank. But she could paint almost anything and took many ideas from holiday cards and would replicate them onto the glass.
The word caught on, and soon, other stores, including Woolworth’s and Park National Bank, along with nearby stores, hired Kelly. The bank President enjoyed Kelly’s work and her spirit for life, so he opened her first savings account and taught her how to start saving each week.
While continuing to work and find herself as a young adult in 1982-83, her athletic abilities and desire for high heels came more quickly, not in the corporate world but with bodybuilding. Kelly’s athletic and competitive personality led her to bodybuilding. She tanned up, oiled down, and competed proudly in her shiny bikini as part of the Mesomorph group. She stood 5’8 “and weighed about 123 lbs with zero fat.
At nineteen, Kelly bravely approached a man inside the Value City store because he had been smoking a cigar. Kelly politely told him smoking was prohibited, but the tall man with a big cigar couldn’t care less about Kelly’s regard towards his questionable behavior. The man turned the tables on Kelly and asked her how long she had worked for the company, what her plans were, and if she wanted to keep her job. Kelly told the man she liked her career working in the ladies’ department but also painted, drew, and did the artwork on the weekends.
To her surprise, the intrigued man introduced himself as the company’s big wig: Saul Shottenstein, the Co-Founder of Value City. Kelly couldn’t believe it, but she didn’t like the idea of the man smoking in the building. She got over it quickly when the man asked if she could draw a picture of him; if she did, he would hang it in his office. She was excited and drew a picture of the man with an over-prominated cigar, one of her most fond moments as a young artist. Saul Shottenstein loved it so much that it was matted, framed, and hung in his office!
Success Without a Degree
In 1989, she knew she had no experience except the years she spent at Value City, but she was ready to start her corporate career. She didn’t have a journalism degree or anything to give her credibility. Regardless, she took her ready-to-land-a-job attitude and resume to Penton Publishing in Cleveland, Ohio. The company (now Penton Publishing) published 32 annual trade journal magazines. Even though she had no experience, Kelly’s enthusiastic, creative personality landed her a low-level secretary position-Kelly was ecstatic!
Before long, a leader in the Publishing Department took Kelly under his wing. Then, the man realized Kelly’s potential and showed her everything she needed to learn about publishing. He would take her to underground poker games and lunches with the bigwigs and became a father-figure friend. She always knew how to dress the part and had an outfit for all the fancy meetings. To this day, she believes dressing the part brought her dreams into reality.
This would help her move up in the company—and it did!
When International business professionals contacted the Publishing company- they would insist on speaking with Kelly. Upon arriving in the US, they brought her unique gifts, and Kelly cherished those career-building moments. A woman without any formal education- Kelly knew everything there was to learn about publishing and how to continue to save and make money by starting a pension. In a short period, Kelly realized what she needed to know about writing when she became friends with editors and journalists. Her skills, hard work, and willingness to learn gave her success even without a degree.
Kelly was recognized as one of the first female regional managers for a manufacturing magazine.
Day Trading + Running a Horse Ranch
Kelly’s determination to learn as she goes and never give up led her to learn more about investments and trading. She quickly found success, and her hefty earnings allowed her to purchase a horse ranch with an indoor arena—the pristine, immaculate twelve-stall barn located on sixteen acres with a farmhouse.
The woman who was once afraid of horses found herself holding summer horse camps on horse anatomy, bathing a horse, cleaning the hooves, and brushing. At the end of each camp, Kelly would provide a big pot-lock and invite all the parents; she loved teaching the kids and celebrating at the end of each experience. The path on her horse ranch would be taking a different route when she received shocking news about her health.
A Successful Marketing Career and Multiple Brain Tumors
In 1999, Kelly noticed numbness in her hands, slurred speech, a taste of copper, and weird sounds. She thought the feeling of what she thought was a pinched nerve from earlier years falling from her dirt bike and horses. Eventually, the staff at her horse ranch witnessed her changes and insisted she be examined. Everything had been prosperous and joyful, and she excelled in a well-deserved marketing role.
But, an MRI revealed a baseball-sized brain tumor in the core of her brain. After a discussion over the severe surgical procedure, Kelly underwent surgery, chemo, and radiation for Stage 4 Glioblastoma brain cancer. She was given 30 days to live.
After illness with her meds, she finished her road to recovery with the trust and guidance of her herbalist and completely changed her diet to a blood-type diet. The idea of death drove her to let go of her horse ranch and handed the deed of her house away. She just wanted to be back in her hometown.
Upon surpassing her 30-day mark, Kelly journaled a poem published by the International Library of Poetry Winter Volume 2001. The poem reads:
In my Absense
There was sorrow, but no tear was shed. A room full of hopelessness to an answer to what lies ahead.
Lost souls walk away from the dead, envisioning what could have been or should have been said.
The black curtain falls upon the evening hour, you'll sleep in peace;
I'm here with you now.
- Written by Kelly Swingle
In 2002, Kelly found work near her hometown in a new marketing role with another industrial company, MPW, and an industrial utility services and solutions company. She would prevail after cancer to become the Marketing Coordinator and excel in her title after cancer.
Ten years later, Kelly moved on to another new journey, continued to prosper as a successful marketing director, and rebranded a company of 75 employees from top to bottom. The once-struggling company hit record sales of over $3.5 million for the first time in over twenty-five years. At the same time, she was making marketing magic; she had unknowingly been living with another tumor in a different part of her brain for the past thirteen years.
Everything had been going well for Kelly, who lived the lifestyle she once dreamt of: high heels, escalators, fancy dinners, and success as a marketing leader.
It was 2012, and she had been down the road to cancer before, but she knew she would be ok. She would make new plans again for what this new life would look like. Another surgery and road to recovery consisted of getting back on track with healthy foods, working with her herbalist, and making arrangements to work remotely. To work remotely in 2012 was not very common at the time.
Kelly had a great relationship with her boss, who was also a good friend. Although his eyes were filled with tears when he heard about Kelly’s situation, Kelly reassured him that she would be okay. He and Kelly created a plan to allow her to work remotely while she recovered.
She received the good news that her tumor wasn’t cancerous!
After seven weeks of recovery and refusing to take any medications, Kelly quickly returned to work. She gave four fruitful years to the company before moving on.
Two More Brain Tumors
In 2019, while bursting at the seams with creativity and loving her life in her marketing role, she experienced headaches and tingling in her hands- the bad news was back…but this time, it was two more brain tumors.
In 2020, not only did she have to have surgery during one of the worst times in history, -but following brain tumor surgery, she suffered a severe staph infection, causing her to have a stroke and sending her to an awful situation to rehabilitate a nursing home. But, with a will to fight back, following once again a strict diet, herbs, and holistic living, she conquered the odds and used her obstacles and determined mindset to recover with her husband’s help.
Publishing Her Book 30 Days to Live
Upon her recovery and journey after the twenty-three-year battle with brain tumors, a stroke, and an infection, it was time to write and publish her story. A goal she had wanted to achieve for years but had been waiting for the right time. Her last brain tumor battle gave her the will to write.
In 2022, the marketing guru and brain tumor survivor wrote and self-published her book, 30 Days to Live, a short memoir about her entire journey with cancer. A saved collection of journals became the guide for her book.
In 30 Days to Live, Kelly’s bio reads: A healthy 36-year-old woman with everything going for her experiences severe headaches and numbness to the left side of her body and dismisses it as a pinched nerve in her back, ignoring the severity of a baseball-sized brain tumor occupying the core of her brain. She is introduced to an herbalist who changes her outcome by exceeding the 30-day life expectancy. Kelly resides in Fairfield County, Ohio, and is well known throughout the United States for her artistic abilities, creating river pebble art. She left the corporate world in 2021 to focus on her health while continuing her holistic path.
Another Health Scare
Christmas in 2023, the 4x brain tumor survivor was found lying outside her home, not remembering how she got there. After being life-flighted, Kelly only remembered being in a helicopter. Later, she learned it was the result of a grand mal seizure, likely caused by the previous brain tumors. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced, but she would regain abilities with speech, walking, and limited ability with her left side.
Nothing can stop the cancer-fighting, brain tumor-surviving woman.
Life as an Artist
Repurposing Nature Into Inspired Art
After surviving four brain tumors, a stroke, a staph infection, and a seizure, Kelly remains ambitious, fierce, and wildly creative. Painting, drawing, and repurposing gifts from Mother Nature is her form of meditation.
Although Kelly’s stroke limited the use of her left side, she can still articulate swirls, fine edges, and strokes with her right hand. Maybe she left the life of dirt bikes and horses behind, but she rides the waves of a cancer-free and creative life. Awakening Nature.
The proof is in the art!
Nature-Inspired Art by Kelly Swingle
Kelly explores Ohio’s streams, creeks, and small rivers to collect odd-shaped rocks and pebbles. She seeks rough and smooth treasures and converts them into ever-so-perfectly painted treasures. The gift of artistry has never left her mind or body.
Painting has always helped her heal after her brain surgeries. It stimulates her brain and challenges her to think and react. Each stage of the painting process requires her focus and concentration, and she works like many artists in a distraction-free environment.
One of her favorite ways to work with art is by creating framed pebble art, mostly from custom orders. Clients request general ideas, and then Kelly takes off with them. She makes cute scenes with couples, family portraits, animal friends, and almost anything. The ability to create from nature has been an excellent way for Kelly to stay cognitively and emotionally healthy. Her work can be found on Awakening Nature.
Keeping the Cancer Bugs Away
Over the years, she’s survived cancer and brain tumors, had her thyroid removed between the years, had a stroke, then a seizure, and even had a gallbladder bladder removed. Kelly avoids chemicals, preservatives, and processed foods and follows the Blood Type Diet. She sees her herbalists regularly, tests the acidity of her body with a urine strip, and walks whenever she can. She loves to drive with the windows down and the smell of lavender and often prays, especially for cancer patients.
She’s an open book, willing and ready to share her wisdom and wonderful ways of life.
Only through considering what it’s like to die do we truly understand what it’s like to live-Kelly Swingle.
Check out 30 Days to Live at Barnes and Noble, Apple, Book Baby, and Amazon to learn more about Kelly’s journey. All profits are donated to St. Judes’ Children’s Hospital for further research on brain cancer.
Cheers to living a healthy and creative life!🥂
Written by: Darian Rowles
Darian Rowles, Founder of Women Who Inspire,
Wow what An amazing story. Such an incredibly strong woman.