Daily Inspiration: Meet Alicia Maslar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Maslar.

Hi Alicia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Little Italy, Cleveland, Ohio. A few years later my family moved to Olmsted Falls and I spent most of my formative years there. In high school, I was voted Most Individualistic in the senior superlatives, which tickled me, until it ended up medically true. I moved back to Little Italy for college and in 2009 I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Cleveland Institute of Art. During school I focused on humanity topics, such as documenting transgender people, or the streets of Cleveland. My final thesis was about women after prison, and the systemic challenges they face. After graduation I spent half a decade living in San Francisco, California, where I founded my wedding and portrait photography business, and in my free time I rode my red Miyata bicycle all around Golden Gate Park and ate lots of Bi-Rite ice cream. In 2015, I returned back to my Ohio roots, and re-established my photography and video business. My work has been featured in Fox 8, Yahoo News, Food 52, Cure magazine, Momentum magazine, Cleveland magazine, and National Public Radio advertising. Over the last 20 years, my highlights have been my college internship at WVIZ PBS, photographing actors Maya and Rockmond Dunbar’s family photos at Sand Run metroparks, Chicago Cubs pitcher Phil Maton’s engagement at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, and Kim Darroch, former British diplomat visit to Cleveland, as well as shooting over a hundred weddings.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Navigating adulthood and a small business was challenging but nothing could prepare me for 2019. It actually started when I was still living in San Francisco years prior, I started noticing some irregular bathroom habits, feeling bloated, then the blood appeared. It was just a drop, I assumed it was hemorrhoids. It started as hardly noticeable and very occasional but over the years it got more and more, until I realized I had a raging urge to go to the bathroom constantly. Something that had started as a whisper was now shouting at me. I remember shooting weddings and running to the bathroom every chance I could get. I slowly stopped booking clients as I felt pretty unwell most of the time. I scheduled doctor appointments but they had no idea what was going on until the colonoscopy. That was the lowest part of my life as I could barely even go grocery shopping without feeling fatigued and indescribable pain. During my colonoscopy I was so stressed the anesthesia didn’t even knock me out. The doctors and I watched on the big screen in the operating room as their tiny camera made its voyage through my inner pipes, They were almost done, and towards the end, there it was, in all its tumor glory, a scary black blob, starkly different than all my other healthy tissue, with some lettuce and seeds stuck to it. Apparently it was having a little snack. The doctor took a biopsy and then it was over. I was wheeled back with all the other baby boomers, I could hear through the curtain everyone getting their good news, then came me, the doctor opened the curtain and said, You have cancer.

I was shocked. There I was, 32 years old with stage III colorectal cancer, and after DNA tests I learned that I had Lynch syndrome, which is an inherited genetic condition that significantly increases the risk of developing colorectal, uterine (endometrial), and several other aggressive cancers, often at a young age. After 8 weeks of chemo, 5 weeks of radiation, 12 surgeries, 2 years of daily TPN infusions, 40 hyperbaric chamber sessions I am cancer free. Unfortunately overcoming the cancer rendered me with short bowel syndrome. I have less than 200 centimeters of small intestines, and no colon. Everyday I live the unseen life of gastrointestinal issues, malnutrition, and dehydration. You don’t even notice your colon, until it’s gone. Now I have an ostomy, which is a surgical procedure where your small intestine is pulled through your abdominal wall, and you wear a bag that collects the waste.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Despite living with this disabling condition, I still love creating photos and videos for brands, non profits, and capturing short weddings, elopements, engagements, events, headshots, and family portraits in Northeast Ohio. I tell my story not for people to feel bad for me, but to destigmatize colorectal cancer in young people. Having a chronic medical condition has forced me to slow down, reflect, and notice the world around me. One day I was walking in the Metroparks and noticed a bright orange mushroom patch. I looked it up and discovered it was a jack-o-lantern mushroom and they glow faintly in the dark! So I came back in the evening and set up my tripod for a long exposure of the mushroom. I was shocked to see the glowing green gills of the mushroom in my photo! Photography excites me in ways I could never expect and keeps me going. There is something so thrilling about setting up my camera at Lake Erie to capture the aurora, another mysterious glow in the night. I love studying the landscape with my camera. Nature, people, and light are my inspiration and the camera is my tool to capture it. I love that the camera can see things we cannot. And if you are quiet and observant enough, you may see it too. Our society is like a patchwork quilt filled with beautiful, unique, individual stories and I love documenting it all, as well as my own story.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
To Kill A Mockingbird, WildOhio podcast by Ohio DNR

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/aliciamaslar
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliciamaslar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliciaoblander
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/buttcancerdiary
• Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/alicia-maslar-cleveland