Sara P. Brom: Celebrating An Artist's Life

This coming November 12 will mark the ten-year anniversary of the death of Sara P. Brom, a victim of the classic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Mrs. Brom was a beloved wife, mother of two, avid reader, devotee to many cultural arts outlets and a multi-talented artist when she died at age 65 from this rare and fatal neurological disease.

Born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, Sara Brom was an artist, and a member of the North Carolina Watercolor Society. Although her first love was watercolor, she would experiment in almost any media: oil, pen and ink, pastels, egg tempera, etc.

"My sister and I grew up with artwork, it was all around us," remarked Christy Brom, founder of CJD Aware!, a non-profit, online information center for CJD based in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Mom's subjects varied from still-life's, to portraits and abstracts. She enjoyed experimenting with all sorts of media as well. Art was at the center of her life as a creative individual." added Ms. Brom.

An active member of the NC Watercolor Society, Sara's paintings were featured in several juried shows from the early 70's to the late 80's. Her watercolor titled, "The Spotted Cat", was picked for the 36th Annual NC Artists' Exhibition and National Traveling Exhibition in Raleigh, NC in 1973. She also loved reading and had an extensive book collection of several thousand volumes.

As a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, in June 1979, Sara and her daughters attended the First USA International Ballet Competition. They enjoyed the performances of all the dancers, but especially those of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Patricia McBride and Peter Martins. Sadly, in 2000 the many interests that were so close to Sara's heart were eventually dropped when her health began to deteriorate due to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

"Mom's coordination was so bad that she was not able to hold or control a paint brush, and she was having difficulty reading, so we got her audio books to listen to," Ms. Brom said. "It was extremely hard to watch her decline as the disease progressed further and further".

Sara was hospitalized in October, and after life support was removed as per her living will, she died on the 12th of November, International CJD Awareness Day. In the spring of 2002, CJD Aware! was formed.

"I was fortunate to have the best mother in the world," remarked Ms. Brom. "She had an insatiable curiosity about so many things. I'm sure if one of us had died from CJD, she would have been at the helm of CJD Aware! doing all she could to promote awareness and raising funds for much-needed research".