Video Slide Highlights:
1 – Me & Miracle
2 - May 8, 2021 8.5 hr spinal surgery post opp
3 - May 14, 2021 chrysalis on orchid gift
4 - Cottage Health rehab
5 - May 16, 2021 monarch butterfly hatched from chrysalis + took flight in 5 hrs @ rehab
6 - Jun 29, 2021 1st 90 min walk - Douglas Family Preserve
7 - Nov 21, 2021 w/a group of clients I flew a trapeze - shocked all of us!
8 – Jul 11, 2022 thoughts pre hardware removal surgery
9 - Jul 21, 2022 receiving screws + rods
10 - Jan 27, 2024 Miracle sculpture. From pain create beauty

It was a warm Friday afternoon, May 7th, 2021, and I was rushed to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and then into an 8.5-hour emergency spinal surgery.

That afternoon, I had been bucked off a horse and the impact was crushing.

My L2 and L3 vertebrae had shattered, and nerve decompression was necessary.

I had lost my ability to walk, to stand, and to lift my arms above my head.

The surgery involved fusing parts of my spine together held with two titanium rods and eight screws. I was told I had only a 10% chance of walking again without surgery. If I did walk again, the prognosis was a one-to-two-year recovery.

I decided this was not going to be my story.

I told my loved ones, my team, and my community that I would:

• walk out of the hospital,
• be off of narcotics,
• and get myself to a pain threshold of four or less before leaving.

That’s exactly what I did only fourteen days after I had been bucked off that horse.

The famous poet Rumi wrote…
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”

I believe we all have the ability to tap into our inner light and heal the wounded parts that keep us from walking forward regardless of what life may bring.

Medical science cannot always explain it.

For well over three years, I’ve simultaneously been the listening viewer as though watching from the seat of a movie theater while also being the main character experiencing the true-life story.

What a heroine’s journey this has been for me in ways that far surpass the physical healing.

In ancient Greece and in many other civilizations, the word for butterfly is “psyche” meaning “soul”. The butterfly’s brave transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to winged creature symbolizes the journey of releasing old identities and ways of being. It is a rebirth, achieved through surrender and trust in the unfolding process.

That’s the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly.
That’s been my journey.

There are times I write this story.
And there are times this story is writing me.

It is a choice. The perspective I choose shapes and colors this experience.
It is the openness to receive what the story actually wants to be that shapes and colors me.

What an adventure it is to be in co-partnership with this narrative.

I am the documentarian sharing what happens as a result of remaining open to all that this story brings.

The pain.
The miracles.
The joy.

Because of my rapid healing I returned to spinal surgeon Dr. Derek Moore who removed all the titanium hardware at my request. A few months later the package arrived from the hospital with every piece returned to me.

I had walked through darkness, through pain, and now I held in my hands these very precious objects that had kept my shattered spine together while I healed.

That’s when I asked my dear friend, Shani Clark, if she would work with me to create a piece of art incorporating the hardware. Being a non-professional artist, she nervously agreed and woke up the next morning with a vision of exactly what was to be created.

From concept, to design, to production the level of craftsmanship and care that Shani brought to this artistic endeavor is unparalleled. She took those screws and rods and fabricated a magnificent butterfly light sculpture we named Miracle.

It is a scientific fact that caterpillars are born with everything they need to become a butterfly.

We are too. As humans we are given a choice to optimize our cellular communication and higher consciousness. It’s rooted in how we accept all that is, and how we craft the story based on the perspective and meaning we assign to everything life brings.

There are many nuances and aspects to this experience, and I plan to write a book with the intention of giving others hope and inspiration in their own hero’s journey.

Miracle, this butterfly light sculpture, had a feature showcase at the Unite to Light the Night annual event in Santa Barbara in October of 2024. She is a symbol and reminder that we can take our pain and turn it into something beautiful.

May we all remember the power of our inner light and let it shine.
This is Wholistic Wealth.
I believe… this is our birthright.

Miracle

Butterfly Light Sculpture
Artist Shani Clark
2024

Miracle
illuminates this story of resilience and rising, a story of taking flight.

May we all remember the power of our inner light and let it shine.

MATERIALS

Surgical Hardware: 2 titanium rods, 8 pedicle bone screws + heads, 8 set screws

Base, Body & Wing Support: repurposed welded steel

Wings: woven rattan palm reed, metallic gold handwritten blessings, layered cellulose-based material

Lighting: LED fairy lights

Surgical Titanium provided by:
Dr. Derek Moore, spinal surgeon

Acknowledgements

Shani Clark, a Santa Barbara local, strives to inspire light, love, and community through her evolving art, which includes paintings, intricate fabric collages, natural fiber weavings, celebratory mandalas, and deeply intentional altars. Her most passionate project, “Miracle,” a monarch butterfly light sculpture, was created in recognition of a dear friend’s tragic injury and miraculous recovery. Shani’s future artistic endeavors remain an exciting unknown—just the way she prefers it, embracing creativity and the unexpected with open arms.

Shani914@hotmail.com

Unite to Light the Night

Over a billion people live without electricity. Access to clean, affordable light and energy is critical to improving health, education and prosperity. Unite to Light is dedicated to providing low-cost solar light and power to those without electricity across the globe. We do this as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization (EIN #27-2942180) so that we can help the most people.

Our products are the lights people need to live and thrive. We focus on projects that help students study at night, equip midwives with the tools they need to save lives, offer help and hope to those suffering from natural disasters, and provide light and power to our neighbors experiencing homelessness so they are able to connect to vital services and information.

Unite to Light sells lights to people with electricity on a “Buy One | Give One” model.

https://www.unitetolight.org/buy-one–give-one.html#/