Y’all Open?
Our business and family has been navigating the waters, and you may have wondered ‘what’s going on with Serengeti?”. You know it’s bad when people ask if you are still open for business, so please, allow us to offer some clarity.
First of all, we are still here for you with regular business hours and top-tier framing and support for your art projects. Next, we feel more grateful than ever for your continued support and concern over the years. You are the realest tribe of art enthusiasts on the planet! So keep reading to get the picture we’re painting.
Family and Business
Through countless plot twists, Wisson keeps his Gallery doors open– inviting the community into his therapeutic oasis, where anyone can come as they are to experience a slice of beauty, peace and enlightenment.
More than a business, Serengeti Gallery is a family business. When Kadzo left to care for her babies, we felt the impact of her separation and missed the beautiful gatherings she had been curating for us. When Nuru began a new life with her husband, we were overjoyed—but what about the communications and campaigns? When our matriarch’s health was getting worse, we felt paralyzed.
This story starts in 2017, and it is now 2024. Time flies– you do the math. By the grace of God, and with the help of her friends, family, ancestors and a host of relentless medical professionals, and the hairs on her chiny-chin-chin, Mary has made a miraculous recovery. Her story is one of signs, wonders, conspicuous timing and blessings overflowing. It parallels the story of Serengeti Gallery, and so in order to tell our story, we have to tell Mary’s.
Birthing A New Generation
Serengeti Gallery is not only a small business, but a family business. Wisson is the Founder/Director/Cutator, then there is Mary (wife), Kadzo (daughter), and Nuru (daughter). By 2017, Kadzo, had taken the gallery events to a next level—hosting sip & paints, road trips, art exhibitions, auctions and gift shows, all while having her first child. Nuru, was publicizing the gallery, and we were on an upswing. But Mary’s health seemed to be declining.
After giving birth to her second child, Kadzo endeavored to pick up where she left off; but she had two young children to consider. Business was booming, but Mary’s health continued to decline. Nuru got married and gave birth to her first child. Kadzo left the gallery.
What’s Eating Mary?
Mary began to lose weight at an alarming rate. She and had undergone every imaginable test, yet her doctors could not determine a cause for her prolonged illness.
By 2018, Mary’s health was at an all-time low and she could no longer care for herself. Physicians could still not determine what was wrong. We hired nurses to assist Mary with basic everyday tasks, until one day in August, she was rushed to the hospital.
Christopher’s Prayer
Mary began calling out to her deceased brother. Accepting the severity of Mary’s condition, her mother booked a flight from Portland, Oregon. In the next days, Mary’s friends and family gathered by her bedside in what seemed to be her final hours. June, one of Mary’s longtime friends, brought her son Christopher.
Christoper was now 30, and we hadn’t seen him since he was a teenager. He shared stories and caught us up on the last 15+ years, which included world travel, and a devotion to Jesus. He confided that he had a prayed over many ill people who went on to make miraculous recoveries. He asked if he could pray over Mary. We graciously accepted.
Waiting for Her Mother
By nightfall, Mary’s friends and family were leaving the hospital, and her mother’s flight was landing. Her mother deplaned and went directly to the hospital. As the doors to the hospital opened and Beatrice stepped inside, she heard “code blue” ring out over the intercom system. A retired nurse, Beatrice understood that a patient was in distress; yet before Beatrice could reach her daughter’s bedside, Mary was in the midst of a stroke.
At nearly midnight, Mary was rushed to the intensive care unit, where she continued to decline. Her family returned to the hospital in the wee hours of the night, and doctors informed us that she may not make it through the night– certainly not at their facility. They initiated a transfer, and the medical transport crew arrived within the hour. Moving swiftly, they reiterated that Mary may not survive the trip to the hospital, and rushed her to the elevators—taking her to the rooftop to be airlifted to Georgetown MedStar hospital.
In the hands of the paramedics and flight crew, Mary survived the airlift and arrived in Georgetown, where doctors and nurses got to work on her immediately. A lot happened that night; even more over the course of that week and the subsequent months of her stay in the intensive care unit, where she fought through multiple interventions and surgeries.
The Storm
As her daughters, we would want to stop the medical interventions– mother had been unconscious for an extended period of time. She had undergone multiple strokes, brain surgery, blood clots, kidney failure, and infections. It looked bleak. We wanted her pain to stop and for her to stop being tampered and experimented with. We wanted her at peace. Wiser family members and nurses had a different perspective. When we experienced doubt, we were encouraged. Doctors reassured us that when it was time to stop interventions, they would inform us. They were telling us to be optimistic, but regardless of what we thought, Wisson had the responsibility to make all medical decisions for Mary. After 35 years of marriage, he was not done fighting for her. He’d only known her as a fighter.
At Wisson’s discretion, Georgetown’s doctors pursued every medical intervention available, fighting for Mary’s recovery even when the chances of success were slim.
A Bigger Picture
At long last, the doctors at Georgetown determined that the cause of Mary’s health battles had been Norovirus. Norovirus operates like a common cold, but with different symptoms. There is no cure, because the body will typically knock it out within days. The virus is not considered fatal. But it had a deadly grip on Mary.
With this new information, we were able to see a bigger picture. As it happened, just hours after Chris’s prayer, Mary had a stroke. It weakened her body and made it an unattractive host for the virus. She was left to fight for her life, but the norovirus had finally been exorcised from Mary’s system.
Sometimes when it looks like things are working against you, give it time to understand that even the so-called “bad” things that happen in your life are pushing you towards your deliverance. This was revealed to us again in the subsequent phase of Mary’s battle.
Exodus
After the doctors at Georgetown had stabilized Mary’s condition, she was discharged to a rehabilitation center. A couple months of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and 24-hour care was enough in Mary’s opinion. She was emotionally exhausted and frustrated with life in a nursing home. She demanded to go home. But home wasn’t ready for her– it had been nearly a year since she had laid in her own bed. She needed a wheelchair. We didn’t have one. She would need help with her daily care, and Wisson was drained – splitting his time between the Gallery and daily trips to the hospital or nursing home for over a year. Mary had lost her ability to walk and had yet to regain her cognitive abilities, but she didn’t care about the technicalities. She wanted to go home. Fed up with the resistance, she issued threats, insults and accusations. Ultimately, she demanded to be taken home. Wisson acquiesced.
Within weeks, news began spread about a virus sweeping the globe– a pandemic. It was being called the coronavirus. As we watched the news coverage, we were stunned to hear reports that the virus was running rampant through nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, claiming the lives of several in-patients. Mary had gotten herself out just in time.
A Thousand Thank You’s
We have an unending list of things be grateful for, and thousands of “thank you’s” to issue. You have been with us over the years, asking “How is Mary doing?”, “How are your grandkids?”, and lifting our family up in your well-wishes and prayers. You showed us such grace, compassion and love through deeply personal tough times.
You are a community of ride it ‘til the wheels fall off tribe of cultural warriors and ambassadors. Good people with true hearts, filled with love. For that, we say thank you. For rooting for us, riding with us and sticking by to see what’s next, you give us the greatest gift.
We share such a bond with you, and so we offer our story. So you can continue to share it and walk into a bright, artsy future with us. So whatever obstacles you are grappling with, know that you can get to the other side. Let Mary’s story inspire you as it has inspired us all to keep pushing and stay optimistic, even when the future is uncertain. Here’s to you.
SO MUCH LOVE,
Serengeti Gallery