NEW GLASGOW – A musician, a hard worker, a volunteer – any maybe most importantly, a wife and mother. Pictou County lost a little of its light Wednesday evening when Emma Lee Stewart passed away.
Emma Lee died at the Aberdeen Hospital shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, with her husband, Jim, and children, Mary and Lee, by her side, 14 months after her fight with metastatic breast cancer began. She was 53 years old.
Stewart, who was anxious to try any treatment, any drug, anything to prolong her life just a little longer, was in fairly good health until just a few weeks ago, says her daughter.
“It was only maybe two weeks ago that she became constricted in what she could do,” said Mary, who sat with her mother on Sunday as she dictated a final entry on her blog, where she’s shared her thoughts and feelings with the community as she battled cancer.
Emma Lee was determined to celebrate her husband Jim’s birthday on Tuesday, and even enjoyed a piece of birthday cake made by her daughter. But at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, she took a turn for the worst and her family brought her to the Aberdeen Hospital.
It wasn’t until late Wednesday morning that the family began calling some of her friends.
“It was the biggest shock for her friends when we started calling them – she was still having people visit her regularly at the house and they couldn’t believe it, she was still so sharp, so strong. She went quickly, and I think that was her intent. She wanted her brain sharp. I think she decided it was her time to go,” Mary said.
By evening, more than 40 people had come to see Emma Lee, prompting one of the nurses to comment on her popularity. But the outpouring from the community didn’t surprise Mary in the least.
“She’s going to be remembered for so many different things,” she said. “She founded the Jubilee, she chaired the New Glasgow Music Festival, she was on the board at Tearmann House, she wrote her own music, she basically founded the contemporary services at Trinity United, her church. I hope people don’t remember her for just one thing, because she spanned so many things.”
One of the things Mary will remember most about her mother is her unwavering support. Mary has followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a musician herself, but credits her mother with giving her the courage to walk down the uncertain path of music.
“My mother grew up playing music and she knows the lifestyle, there’s not a lot of security and it can be hard to get by. But she told me that it doesn’t matter – that I was going to do this,” she recalls, adding it was her mother who made her practise when she slacked off and insisted she attend music camps when she didn’t want to.
“She supported me to the end.”
Emma Lee packed a lot of living into her last few months, including a trip to Maui with her husband, Jim, in June. A fundraiser had been held at Trinity United Church to send the couple to Hawaii and two weeks later they went.
“It was the most time they were able to spend together, consecutively, for the past 14 months,” Mary said, adding that her father, who works in Halifax, split his time between the city and the couple’s New Glasgow home during Emma’s battle.
“It was amazing. They held the fundraiser at Trinity, and they went two weeks after. Dad has a lot of good memories of them there, in the water, relaxing and enjoying themselves. It was a nice, peaceful time, when they didn’t have to worry about doctor’s appointments and tests.”
Emma Lee was still active in the community, even during her illness. Her last musical performance was in July, when she sang at Carmichael Stewart House Museum.
“It wasn’t until the first week of August when her body wasn’t strong enough to sing, she couldn’t get the controlled breaths she needed,” Mary said.
Throughout her battle, she tried to help others with her blog, www. raisinghopeforemmalee.blogspot.com, making her fight a very public one.
“She wasn’t educated about the steps to take after her first round of cancer,” Mary said, adding that her mother was simply given a steroid drug and that’s all that was said about it.
“It wasn’t said that there was a risk her breast cancer would come back, or that if it did, there was a risk she wouldn’t get rid of it this time. She wanted people to know this was the case. Everybody thinks breast cancer is curable – there’s pink ribbons on chocolates and toilet paper, but not everybody knows it can go so wrong. She knew there was still a lot of people she could help and things she could accomplish.”
And help she did. Emma Lee’s blog reached far beyond the local community – last fall, she travelled to Indianapolis at attend a metastatic breast cancer conference, where she met others affected by the disease.
This won’t be the last people hear of Emma Lee, her daughter added. In celebration of her mother’s birthday on Nov. 13, a concert is being planned at the Glasgow Square to raise funds for Reason for Hope, a non-profit organization Emma Lee founded after her first fight with breast cancer. And the organization will go on, Mary promised.
Visitation will be held on Saturday, 7-9 p.m., at P&K Funeral Home, and again on Sunday, 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The funeral will be held on Monday at Trinity United at 2 p.m.
