Life and Work with Michele Wells

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Wells.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Michele. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Meaning that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspect. I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at 37 years old after visiting the emergency room for nausea, vomiting and dehydration. Initially, I was told I needed to start chemotherapy right away. Only 40% of people respond to the chemo and the five years survival rate was only 20%. To me, it was a death sentence. I was too young and had so much more life to live. I knew I had to get a second opinion.

While waiting for another appointment, I got sick again so my husband took me to the emergency room at MD Anderson Cancer Center. I was admitted right away and had emergency surgery to remove the tumor from my colon. After recovery I started chemotherapy to shrink the metastatic tumors in my liver. My husband and I made the decision that it was best to quit my job while undergoing treatment. My liver tumors didn’t respond to the initial treatment so I started another more aggressive chemo. After two more months, it had worked just enough to have surgery. Unfortunately, I had complications during surgery and I went into sepsis. The doctors told my husband they didn’t know if I would make it through the night and to call my parents in from out of state. I was placed in an induced coma for a week while doctors performed numerous surgeries to fix the problems and allow my body to heal. I spent six weeks in the hospital.

Three months later, I had a follow-up scan. My cancer had spread to my lungs and pelvis. I was still healing from my surgeries and couldn’t start chemotherapy again and I was still not physically able to return to work. Day after day was spent at home with nothing to do. I felt like I had no purpose in life. On a whim, I took a sugar cookie decorating class. I have always enjoyed baking but had never decorated cookies. My first cookies were nowhere near perfection. I knew I could do better and tried again at home. Easter was approaching so I offered to make cookies for family and friends. 1,200 cookies later, I decided to take my new found hobby a step further and started a Facebook page to showcase my cookies. I used each custom order to learn new techniques and perfect my recipes. A few months later, I began to sell my cookies at a local farmers market. I have been truly overwhelmed by the response. Through the cloud of cancer, I discovered my enjoyment of decorating cookies, my silver lining. And thus, The Silver Icing was born.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Not all disabilities are visible from the outside. Besides physical impairments, I also suffer with painful neuropathy in my hands and feet. Numerous medications either made me sick or had no effect at all. I even tried acupuncture, although I am deathly afraid of needles. After several months, my doctors finally found a combination of prescriptions that made the pain tolerable. It never goes away completely, but at least I am able to function and, most importantly, decorate cookies. My doctors agree it is a good therapy for the neuropathy in my hands. Some days are good and others not so much. The mental aspect of it all has also been a struggle. Though I don’t wake up every morning and “go to work,” baking cookies has fulfilled my need for a purpose in life. It gives me something to focus on each week as I plan recipes, themes and color palettes for my custom orders and market cookies. It is also important not to let myself become overwhelmed. I work to balance baking and decorating with numerous doctor appointments and learned that I need to block out one week each month simply for my scans and immunotherapy infusions.

Please tell us about The Silver Icing.
The Silver Icing specializes in custom decorated sugar cookies, from baby showers to birthdays and any occasion in between. One of my favorite orders was a crawfish boil housewarming party. In addition to my standard vanilla almond flavor, other customer favorites are chocolate chip, chocolate, and s’mores. I also introduce seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice and caramel apple cider throughout the year. I had one customer purchase a few of my dark chocolate cookies at the farmers market one Sunday and come back later that afternoon to buy everything I had left. She said they were so good, the cookies never made it home. That’s another thing I hear a lot of from my customers… other sugar cookies are beautifully decorated, but they don’t taste good. Mine do. My homemade cookies are crafted in small batches from quality ingredients, rolled thick and baked fresh to order until the bottoms are just golden brown, resulting in slightly crisp edges and soft chewy centers.

Who have you been inspired by?
Growing up, my mom was an amazing baker… cookies, muffins and pies, birthday and wedding cakes. My favorite time of year was Christmas as she would spend an entire weekend baking dozens and dozens of assorted cookies. Though she lives in another state she is a huge supporter of my cookie hobby, sharing my Facebook posts and sending me surprise shipments of cookie cutters and other supplies. At the time of my diagnosis, my mom was caregiver to my grandmother as she was going through treatment for lymphoma. Shortly after, her husband was diagnosed with cancer, too. I can’t imagine what a blow that must have been to her faith. But she has shown resilience throughout it all. Numerous family and friends have been an inspiration to me in one way or another. From my cousin who organized a benefit to help with my medical bills and also camped out overnight in the freezing cold to get a Jose Altuve autograph for me while I was going through chemo, to a fellow young cancer survivor who uses her diagnosis to educate and advocate for others and whose story that I read online helped me come to terms with my life-changing diagnosis. To them and all the other inspiring women in my life, I say thank you for your continued support of this cancer patient turned cookie decorator.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thesilvericing.com
• Email: info@thesilvericing.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesilvericing

Image Credit:
Michele Wells

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