Kay is well known in the community having lived and worked in the Maidstone area for over 30 years and is an active member of MVAN (Maidstone Visual Artists Network). Being an artist was not her first career; in fact the majority of Kay’s career has been dedicated to music. Kay’s energy seemed to know no bounds, she worked full throttle and enjoyed life with her husband and Three Son's but in 2004 she was suddenly struck down with M.E. “I was Assistant Manager for Kent Music School responsible for 80 staff and I was a manager conducting eight orchestras a week, teaching cello and bass and running two music schools. I was a plate spinner and I think that is partly why I was ill. I lost my ability to play, teach and I was so ill – disabled overnight – I think I went through a period of grief. I was sad to think I would have a disabled life without music.”
M.E and Fibromyalgia was diagnosed in May 2005 and part of her treatment was art therapy at Blackthorn Medical Centre. “I was going stir crazy, my creativity had to go somewhere and art therapy gave me a feeling of ‘light’. Blackthorn has been instrumental in rebuilding ‘Kay’ and helped me discover my artistic soul.” Although this sounds as if we would have been in a deep and profound conversation, Kay is open and positive about the topic and only a flicker of sadness in her eyes gives any hint of her struggle. The spark returns as she ploughs on with her story “…I was composing, but art therapy was about expressing yourself through clay or paint or colours and I suddenly felt a cork had come unplugged and I signed up for art Adult Education classes in 2006”