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BRUSH WITH DEATH HONES LOVE OF LIFE
Wollongong Advertiser, Australia
January 22, 2014 Wednesday
I am an Australian citizen with an Armenian background. My grandparents
escaped their homeland (part of Turkey now) around World War I and
with their children moved around Turkey and the Middle East area
(Syria and Lebanon, eventually settling in Iraq). In spite of
all the misfortunes, adversities and hardships that they faced,
they succeeded in establishing themselves in the many communities
they lived within. My father occupied a prominent position in the
Department of Engineering in Iraq, my mother became a school teacher,
and my uncle was the archbishop representing his community in the US,
Iran and Egypt.
I did part of my study in Iraq, and then my father supported me
to study in England. I finished my PhD in medical microbiology and
married Colin Woodroffe, who is now a professor at the University of
Wollongong. I accompanied my husband when he travelled for his many
different academic positions. In all these new places, I managed to
keep my academic career and find a job. Hence, I held many interesting
postdoctoral research, tutoring and lecturing positions. In New Zealand
at the Auckland University Medical School I was involved in research
on tumour immunology. During a year at Louisiana State University
in the US I joined a team working on avian microbiology. We spent
several years in Darwin during which I researched human chlamydial
infection at the Menzies School of Health Research. My most recent
research was on human cytomegalovirus infection at University of
Wollongong and the University of Western Sydney.
Following a 23-year academic career and after being diagnosed and
successfully treated for breast cancer, I decided to have a sea-change
and to do the things I loved but had shelved until retirement. So, I
joined the Welsh Choir, started practising piano and devoted time to my
hobby - painting. In the last 15 years or so since my early retirement,
I have gone a long way with my painting career. I have won many
prizes and awards for my paintings and been represented by galleries
in Wollongong, Shellharbour, Sydney and Canberra. I have taken part
in art exhibitions, done solo and group exhibitions, and have sold
many paintings, including overseas. I like all the different styles
of painting. I find myself at ease painting traditional abstract or
traditional realist or contemporary impressionistic styles, and I paint
regularly in nature (en plein air) with a group of my artist friends.
For me, nature is so beautiful and perfect with the play of shadow
and light and the expression of colours that are displayed through
the three dimensions, that I stand in front of it in awe for its
perfectness and beauty. All I can do is humbly and truthfully transfer
the magic in front of me and my inner feelings to the two-dimensional
canvas. I paint all sorts of subjects including landscape, seascape,
figurative and portraits, and my favourite medium is oil colour,
though most of the time I start with watercolour or acrylic or pastel,
but I love the texture of oils. More of my work can be found at my
website, www.salwawoodroffe.com.
Looking back at my life, I am happy with all the different stages
in my life. I do not consider my brush with cancer so much as a
misfortune but more a waking call to enjoy life and not to take it
too seriously. It has given me the strength to believe in my inner
self, my ability to turn things around, to always put my family as
the priorities in life, to be sensitive to the needs of others around
me, and to increase my friendship with God. In all the trials that I
faced, whether it was juggling family needs with the very demanding
and testing aspects of my research/ teaching career, dealing with
a horrifying accident to my husband, facing my health issues, or
looking after my elderly mother, my faith has helped me through.
Now I have two beautiful grown-up daughters - Sabrina, who has finished
studying dentistry specialising in orthodontics and is working with
the Smile Team in Wollongong; and Clarissa who works as a pharmacist
at the Westmead Children's Hospital. Also I am so looking forward
to the birth of my first grandchild in a few months' time. I am very
thankful for the support of my husband, daughters and family.
My motto is life always brings with it happiness, beauty and trials.
It is up to us to appreciate the happy events in our life and
be thankful, to stop and see beauty and enjoy it; and to face
life-challenges, learn from them and turn them around to our advantage
and mature from them.
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2039047/brush-with-death-hones-love-of-life/
From: Baghdasarian
Wollongong Advertiser, Australia
January 22, 2014 Wednesday
I am an Australian citizen with an Armenian background. My grandparents
escaped their homeland (part of Turkey now) around World War I and
with their children moved around Turkey and the Middle East area
(Syria and Lebanon, eventually settling in Iraq). In spite of
all the misfortunes, adversities and hardships that they faced,
they succeeded in establishing themselves in the many communities
they lived within. My father occupied a prominent position in the
Department of Engineering in Iraq, my mother became a school teacher,
and my uncle was the archbishop representing his community in the US,
Iran and Egypt.
I did part of my study in Iraq, and then my father supported me
to study in England. I finished my PhD in medical microbiology and
married Colin Woodroffe, who is now a professor at the University of
Wollongong. I accompanied my husband when he travelled for his many
different academic positions. In all these new places, I managed to
keep my academic career and find a job. Hence, I held many interesting
postdoctoral research, tutoring and lecturing positions. In New Zealand
at the Auckland University Medical School I was involved in research
on tumour immunology. During a year at Louisiana State University
in the US I joined a team working on avian microbiology. We spent
several years in Darwin during which I researched human chlamydial
infection at the Menzies School of Health Research. My most recent
research was on human cytomegalovirus infection at University of
Wollongong and the University of Western Sydney.
Following a 23-year academic career and after being diagnosed and
successfully treated for breast cancer, I decided to have a sea-change
and to do the things I loved but had shelved until retirement. So, I
joined the Welsh Choir, started practising piano and devoted time to my
hobby - painting. In the last 15 years or so since my early retirement,
I have gone a long way with my painting career. I have won many
prizes and awards for my paintings and been represented by galleries
in Wollongong, Shellharbour, Sydney and Canberra. I have taken part
in art exhibitions, done solo and group exhibitions, and have sold
many paintings, including overseas. I like all the different styles
of painting. I find myself at ease painting traditional abstract or
traditional realist or contemporary impressionistic styles, and I paint
regularly in nature (en plein air) with a group of my artist friends.
For me, nature is so beautiful and perfect with the play of shadow
and light and the expression of colours that are displayed through
the three dimensions, that I stand in front of it in awe for its
perfectness and beauty. All I can do is humbly and truthfully transfer
the magic in front of me and my inner feelings to the two-dimensional
canvas. I paint all sorts of subjects including landscape, seascape,
figurative and portraits, and my favourite medium is oil colour,
though most of the time I start with watercolour or acrylic or pastel,
but I love the texture of oils. More of my work can be found at my
website, www.salwawoodroffe.com.
Looking back at my life, I am happy with all the different stages
in my life. I do not consider my brush with cancer so much as a
misfortune but more a waking call to enjoy life and not to take it
too seriously. It has given me the strength to believe in my inner
self, my ability to turn things around, to always put my family as
the priorities in life, to be sensitive to the needs of others around
me, and to increase my friendship with God. In all the trials that I
faced, whether it was juggling family needs with the very demanding
and testing aspects of my research/ teaching career, dealing with
a horrifying accident to my husband, facing my health issues, or
looking after my elderly mother, my faith has helped me through.
Now I have two beautiful grown-up daughters - Sabrina, who has finished
studying dentistry specialising in orthodontics and is working with
the Smile Team in Wollongong; and Clarissa who works as a pharmacist
at the Westmead Children's Hospital. Also I am so looking forward
to the birth of my first grandchild in a few months' time. I am very
thankful for the support of my husband, daughters and family.
My motto is life always brings with it happiness, beauty and trials.
It is up to us to appreciate the happy events in our life and
be thankful, to stop and see beauty and enjoy it; and to face
life-challenges, learn from them and turn them around to our advantage
and mature from them.
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2039047/brush-with-death-hones-love-of-life/
From: Baghdasarian