ABOUT

About the VAC

I figured I had it beat, the cancer. In Jan. 2003 I was diagnosed with a malignant sarcoma and given six months to live. I delivered myself to the gods and to the doctors of UCLA on Valentines Day 2003. The sarcoma was removed by slicing me in half from my belly button horizontally around my right side to nearly my spine. The recovery was brutal, long, winding and filled with more procedures and with a constant and queasy nauseous feeling that went on for years. Finally, everything settled and I figured I was home free.

Then one June morning in 2006, while visiting Prague for work, I woke up alone, sweating, my body on fire, my fingers and toes tingling, my vision blurred. Cancy Wancy had returned with a vengeance and brought with her a similar diagnosis – 6 months, max.

I knew then, if I was to heal, an entirely different approach was needed. I recalled a quote by Herman Aihara, a founder of the Macrobiotic movement in America: “You cannot heal yourself the same way twice.” Wise words, indeed. So I set my sights on a new horizon and launched myself into new space. Days before arriving in Prague, my wife and I had decided to end our marriage of 16 years. Time to turn a new leaf. Time to chat with Cancy Wancy. Time to tune in to the angel in disguise.

She asked me what I really wanted. I said a bottle of wine and a cigarette. We drank together, we smoked and laughed and, like a miracle, a new understanding came over me, how there was a way forward. I asked her to dance. Cancy put on music of the world and we rocked the dance floor.

Back in Los Angeles generous friends helped me with alternative and holistic medical protocols. I moved from one Venice house to another, opened the doors wide and the VAC was born. Cancy Wancy opened my eyes and heart to a new world, one where a loose and driven creative spark took hold, wholly in the spirit of Venice and in the spirit of rebirth, personally speaking.

Thanks for tuning in to the VAC | Doug Lewis 022912

VAC is a community art project featuring artists from around the globe.