There's an article about Cordula Volkening in the New York Times today, alongside this photograph by J.B. Reed and a video called "A Paintbrush and Nothing to Lose."

More than a year ago, I got an email from a friend about her Park Slope neighbor and friend, who had been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.

Doctors told her she had three months to live.

What sounded like a terrible tragedy was actually a life affirming story of art triumphing over adversity. Despite the cancer, Cordula was devoting herself to her wild, expressionistic painting; she seemed to have an incredibly passionate attitude about the end of her life.

For obvious reasons, I included her on the Park Slope 100 for being the inspiring artist—and person—that she is.

Here's her Park Slope 100 blurb:

Cordula Volkening because with a diagnosis of stage 4 brain
cancer you decided to quit your job and devote yourself to your
painting. "Hey, I got advanced brain cancer – my system kicks me in the
butt and screams: Be your authentic self or you are going to die sooner
not later. Any questions?"

I wrote about her again in June 2008 because she was having a show called Would You Like an Invitation to My Destination? at the Brooklyn Artists Gym.

At the time I wrote:

Cordula is real hero in my
book, a wild, brave heart, for not letting her disease get in the way
of her desire to make paintings. Sadly, the tumor makes it impossible
for her to speak.

According to the article in the Times today she has undergone two rounds of brain surgery and is currently in an
experimental clinical trial. The tumor has impaired her ability to
speak, but it has not kept her from making great art.

Ms. Volkening even tried a special experimental study at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
hospital, which involved spending her days with electrodes attached to
her head. But by last March, the tumor was back and doctors operated
again, which damaged her speech capacity, and last September, doctors
found a second, inoperable tumor and said that heavy chemotherapy could
give her a few more months but probably would leave her without the
energy to paint.

Reading the article in the Times today I was heartened by the fact that she's still alive—and that she's still painting.

After all, doctors told her she only had three months to live. Cordula had other ideas.