We sat with these three incredible women in our Marlow Bolt Room to learn more about Mortal & Strong, and to hear their stories firsthand. These ladies are part of our Scamp & Dude community, and we’re super excited to share their journey with you.
Liz founded Mortal & Strong, a charity campaign that highlights young women who are facing life-threatening conditions or confronting their own mortality. Through art and interviews, the campaign gives a voice to 100 people who've gone tough times, showing how they found strength and spread messages of hope and positivity.
Amy and Laura connected with Liz through the campaign, sharing their own stories as part of the powerful project.
Amy
“So, I answered the call, I suppose, of people who wanted to volunteer. I've got secondary breast cancer. I've also got a dodgy gene mutation and all sorts of other things going on, but I just really wanted to have a platform to spread a bit of hope, I guess, because, especially when you're diagnosed with a secondary cancer, you just think, oh my goodness. That's it. I'm going to die. And I'm here, and it's four years later. And, you know, I just wanted to spread that message, I think, and just empower other women who are going through the same situation who might be a little bit earlier on in their journey, essentially.”
Laura
“I've got an autoimmune condition called Addison’s disease, and it's quite isolating because it's really rare. So, I was spending some time looking for charities that were working with people who had rare conditions or that were working with women's health. I also have premature ovarian failure. And I came across Mortal & Strong. On a whim, just said, I don't suppose you're interested, and Liz bit my arm off at the chance to join.”
Liz
“When I was diagnosed with lupus and endometriosis, I couldn't imagine how I would get my life back. There's quite a lot of communities in isolation. You've got breast cancer, and you've got the rare conditions. But to bring people together and have that overlap, there's so much synergy between the different conditions that we can all learn from each other and bring these communities together. On the day of the shoot, I was so anxious. But I put on my favourite Scamp & Dude dress. I got there, and there was a common factor that we all shared, and you didn't have to name what it was. And it just brought us together, didn't it?”
Team Scamp & Dude: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
Laura
“My superpower is resilience. And the reason I say that is because when you live with a chronic health condition, you will get knocked down more times than you care to. But it's not the knocking down that stays with you. It's how many times can you get back up.”
Liz
“My superpower is strength because it is something which, at one point, I thought I had none of. I didn't get any strength left, and I never thought I would be strong. I was envious of other people who I saw were strong and living their life well with conditions that I was diagnosed with. So, I can share that strength with others and help other people find their strength means so much to me to be able to pay it forward.”
Amy
“I think mine’s hopefulness. There's a lot of negativities around chronic disease. There's a lot of negativities around cancer. There are times where things are really bad, and I find myself in a deep dark hole. But ultimately, it's the hopefulness that brings me back out of that game. Because, while there is still hope, there is still fight, and there is still a reason to push forward and a reason to, yeah, shine as brightly as you possibly can.”
Mortal & Strong and Liz have nearly finished the filming for their campaign and heading towards a powerful exhibition in Spring 2025, and we can’t wait to see it.