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This morning, Lara Marsh will drive to the Omaha Community Playhouse and say goodbye and safe travels to her friends and colleagues.
And it's an apt day to tell the members of the Nebraska Theater Caravan something else: Thank you.
Marsh is the artistic director for that theater troupe that travels the state. In Omaha for the past month, the actors leave today for a round of performances.
Marsh also has cystic fibrosis, a disease that someday soon will require a lung transplant. It's not a cheap procedure, costing $100,000. She doesn't have that kind of money, so she's asked for help.
That's all the cue the actors needed. During the past year, many Omaha theaters have extended runs of their shows, donating the profits to Marsh's fund. The theater caravan put on a cabaret show earlier this month. Seeing them take the stage to raise money for her was a powerful moment for Marsh.
“It was touching,” she said. “It was warm and wonderful.”
Doctors diagnosed Marsh, now 39, with cystic fibrosis when she was 4 years old. He sister died of the disease at 18.
Marsh's decline has been slower. Her lungs function about a third as well as those of a normal person. When they have deteriorated a little more, she will be evaluated for a spot on the transplant list.
She knows she could worry about that when the time comes. But that's not Marsh's style. She prefers to take control of whatever she can.
In late 2008, she set up the campaign to raise money for the transplant. Quickly, the theater community rallied behind her.
In addition to fundraiser performances, Marsh's theater friends took part in “$5 February,” sending e-mails across the country soliciting small donations. Marsh received many of the forwarded messages in which actors, directors and designers she'd never met were asking others to help “one of our own.” So far, they've helped her raise $50,000.
The e-mail campaign made her a bit of a celebrity. At conferences across the nation, people would come up, asking if she is the woman to whom they made a donation.
Today, Marsh will reflect on all of the people who have helped her — the caravan actors she knows well and the folks across the country she's never met.
“I'm definitely thankful for being able to have all these people in my life who care so much.”
Contact the writer:
444-1220, dane.stickney@owh.com
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