These oil paintings are from people living with NF all over the United States. If there are 5 or more people from a single state, they are in the State Show Collections folder.
Jennifer Advocating on the Hill
Payallup, Washington ~ 2019
Oil in Canvas
30" x 24"
Jennifer Berube started puberty early at age ten and had many dermal tumors. Her number of tumors increased significantly during her teen years. At 25, she was diagnosed with NF by physical examination. Genetic testing showed her NF to be due to a spontaneous mutation. Jennifer also started menopause early: at age 38. Between puberty and menopause, the number of tumors increased significantly. Over the years, she had many surgeries to remove individual tumors that became painful. In 2012, she had an electrodessication procedure (ED) to removed over 500 tumors at one time on her back.
Jennifer struggled in school both academically and socially. She endured years of bullying from not only peers, but also some teachers. One teacher in particular, who thought she was not trying hard enough, told her parents that she was a waste of educational money and teacher’s time and was not going to amount to anything. However, the more she was looked down upon, the more determined she became to graduate and be successful in her adult life.
Ten years after graduating high school, Jennifer went back to college and had an awesome teacher who realized that she had learning disabilities. No one had ever mentioned learning disabilities before. This teacher helped her to succeed in her class and beyond. Jennifer went on to graduate and get her AA degree in Early Childhood Education. She was working close to full time while attending college and due to her teacher’s help and support, was able to maintain a 3.6 GPA while taking a full load of credits.
Jennifer worked her whole adult life until 2017, when at the age of 54, she became seriously ill and her Dr. said that she could not work any more. After 25 years working for the State of Washington, she had to leave friends and coworkers and move on to a new life of retirement. Retirement has allowed her to get even more involved with NF groups. She has gotten really involved with both NF Network and CTF. Now, she tries to be an advocate for others that have NF.
Jennifer struggled in school both academically and socially. She endured years of bullying from not only peers, but also some teachers. One teacher in particular, who thought she was not trying hard enough, told her parents that she was a waste of educational money and teacher’s time and was not going to amount to anything. However, the more she was looked down upon, the more determined she became to graduate and be successful in her adult life.
Ten years after graduating high school, Jennifer went back to college and had an awesome teacher who realized that she had learning disabilities. No one had ever mentioned learning disabilities before. This teacher helped her to succeed in her class and beyond. Jennifer went on to graduate and get her AA degree in Early Childhood Education. She was working close to full time while attending college and due to her teacher’s help and support, was able to maintain a 3.6 GPA while taking a full load of credits.
Jennifer worked her whole adult life until 2017, when at the age of 54, she became seriously ill and her Dr. said that she could not work any more. After 25 years working for the State of Washington, she had to leave friends and coworkers and move on to a new life of retirement. Retirement has allowed her to get even more involved with NF groups. She has gotten really involved with both NF Network and CTF. Now, she tries to be an advocate for others that have NF.