Naomi meets a real unicorn
A painting created for a child with Stage IV Brain Cancer, Naomi, age 8, who was nominated into our 501c3 Nonprofit organization The WarPaint Project: Custom Artwork For Warriors of Life.
Her fight for life, her strength, her generosity all the while, and her love of unicorns, inspired us to create "Wild Horses" showing her being carried through life by all who know her.
The beat of their hooves, against the sand, mimic her heartbeat; a soundtrack to her Warrior within, a catchy rhythm like the paintbrush that tapped along with it, to create her Warrior Painting. Monday it ships to her, we are priveledged to know her story and to have ever picked up a paintbrush that years later we use it as tribute to their strength.
Your paintings are more valuable than what stands on a wall as a time when you combined colors; to create a painting for someone who has no idea the respect you have for them, 0r that when they behold the image you've created for them, the experience of creating art changes to something else.
Art is a language we all speak fluently, we should be talking through our art to people who need to know their fight for life inspires the artists in all of us.
Naomi, we hope you hear the words from your painting, that your strength, bravery, and great nobility is the Warrior way. #warriorslikenaomi
Aubre and Joe
Www.thewarpaintproject.com
naomi strong is 8 years old, a warrior of stage 4 brain cancer that's spread to her spine. even though she has every excuse to concentrate on herself, or what she wants in life, she uses her pages and social media to care for others, even hosting a toy drive for area children over christmas. when i met naomi's parents gary and melissa i had no idea i would also meet the most influential warrior of her kind; she is a superhero; naomi strong.
for her painting, 'naomi; unicorn superhero' i've been back and forth with what to paint. i've attempted to paint her on a unicorn, next to a unicorn, kissing a unicorn, and even created her into a wrestling figure; i have yet to feel the connection between her artwork and 'her story' with anything made. to find the inspiration for what to paint; i read her posts. as i read through each day, as i watch her cancer take over, and as i look back through her photo-journal from the beginning, i find "the" image i need to paint.
naomi's influence is important to document; she changed the way we approach each warrior in our project forever more. it started with her 'bucket-list'. gary, naomi's father, shared naomi's list of things she would like to experience in life. the list is here:
photos emerged one day as the town she lives in used the mounted police horses dressed as a unicorn to surprisE naomi with "meet a real unicorn". she screamed, she approached her unicorn (the unicorn and naomi wore matching crowns of white roses), she was able to touch its face, ride on it and also scratch it off her list. her town also dressed volunteers in disney princess gowns and provided naomi with a limo ride to a ball where children danced with their favorite princesses; i was so impressed with this town's support; they love naomi.
the day i received a nomination for alex-warrior of hunter's syndrome, a child in my local town, i knew i had an opportunity to ask my own community to love alex as naomi's town had done for their warrior. i learned alex wanted a buffalo bills themed painting and began a 54-email and 3week campaign to find alex whatever buffalo bills support i could find. i would also ask the buffalo bills to create a video message for alex. the story of alex and the story of naomi run side-by-side as i tried to create more opportunities for these two very special warriors. could i do anything else for them, aside from their painting? could i help with her bucket list? could I actually have 'the rock' meet naomi?
i emailed, called, tweeted, tagged, messaged, and prayed. i found a list of emails belonging to the team that surrounds ''the rock'-here's the email i sent:
Thank you for reading, please respond.
My name is Aubre' Murphy, I am an artist who began donating a custom-designed acrylic painting for Warriors of Cancer, Autism, Down's Syndrome, and many other diagnosis. I do not matter in this email, I am an avenue for a dream come true for a child that is inspiring the world. She wants so little out of this world; I need your help.
Naomi is a child I connected with a month ago through the 'Nomination Form' on my website. Her father, Gary Short Sr. has documented her fight with cancer on Facebook and found my project, asking I paint a Unicorn Superhero for his daughter.
As always, I share her pages and links and tell her story. Naomi created a 'bucket list' about a month ago. Her fans and friends are diligently attempting to help her see her list through. Most of the items are easy, some of them seem impossible: I am writing to you because 'Meet 'The Rock' Dwayne Johnson' is on her list. This morning I am using every ounce of 'know-how' I have to find anyone who can at the least make a video phone call happen for her. Will you please help me with this?
About her Bucket List:
Naomi (while fighting stage four brain cancer) has met a 'real' unicorn; her town dressed a mounted horse with a unicorn horn; it was televised and such a generous gesture by the police department. Her town also threw her a 'Disney Princess Ball' and drove Naomi in a limo to her party. She's listed 'experience a crush' which was sort of fulfilled with a 'date' with a boy in her town. She wants to also take a photo in front of the Hollywood Sign and meet Dwayne. The final item, 'To be on the Ellen Show'.
Will you please connect Dwayne with this child? She is wonderful and deserves to experience all that she wants; stage four brain cancer is a death sentence. She is currently hosting a toy drive for the children in her town, from a hospital room. She has called many wrestlers out on short skits and videos, 'The Rock' being one of her most frequent 'call-outs' while telling him she's beating cancer, something he has never done!
Here is my contact information, should you have any questions. I don't want the family to know I am attempting this, they've seen me create connections like this for other Warriors in my project; aside from their painting, I do anything I can to help them remember they are Warriors and deserve to experience anything they can dream.
Please help me with this. Quickly.
With my sincerest gratitude,
Aubre' M. Murphy
it wasn't six minutes later i received a response asking for gary and melissa's information. it wasn't an hour later they were contacted by "the rock's" team to create a surprise for naomi. it wasn't a week later that her first of several video messages would surface. she was given front row seats and back stage passes to WWE NXT Cleveland, Ohio's show but naomi wasn't able to attend, she was in emergency surgery. a few days later 'the rock' sent his video message for naomi;
TO HAVE SOMEONE AS FAMOUS AS 'THE ROCK' ANSWER OUR REQUEST IS AMAZING! IT GAVE ME THE THOUGHT THAT I CAN APPROACH ANYONE WITH OUR WARRIOR'S STORIES AND ASK FOR ANYTHING TO BE DONATED TO THEM; IT CHANGES EVERYTHING. FOR THE NEXT 6 WARRIORS I WOULD LEARN ABOUT THEIR SPECIAL REQUESTS AND NOT ONLY GIVE THEM A PAINTING OF THEIR FAVORITE THINGS BUT TO ALSO INCLUDE GIFTS, OR EXTRA DETAILS, THAT COME DIRECTLY FROM THEIR HEROES. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE GIFT THAT WE CAN GIVE; A LESSON THAT NAOMI TAUGHT US.
WHAT'S REALLY AMAZING, AND CERTAINLY A LIFE LESSON, IS THAT ON THE DAY TEAM ROCK RESPONDED, NAOMI WAS DELIVERING THE TOYS DONATED THROUGH HER TOY DRIVE. THE TIMING OF THE ROCK RESPONDING, THE TIMING BEHIND CELEBRITY TEXT MESSAGES TO MOM, AT THE EXACT MOMENT SHE WAS DELIVERING HER GIFTS; THAT IS PROOF THAT KARMA EXISTS; WE FIND THE LIFE WE HAVE ALWAYS IMAGINED FOR OURSELVES THROUGH GENEROSITY TO OTHERS.
AUBRE
HI WARPAINT FAMILY!
THIS IS NAOMI'S PAGE. EVERY WARRIOR WILL RECEIVE THEIR OWN PAGE WITHIN THE WEBSITE SO THAT YOU CAN FIND THEM EASILY.
AS OUR EXPERIENCE CONTINUES WITH EACH WARRIOR, WE WILL UPDATE YOU HERE.
TO CONNECT WITH NAOMI, TO FOLLOW AND SUPPORT HER, AND TO JOIN US TO RALLY AROUND HER CLICK ANY OF THE LINKS BELOW/l
WE THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR NAOMI. PLEASE TAKE A NEW LOOK AT HER NEW WARRIOR PROFILE PAGE!
AUBRE'