Kirbi Fagan
2023 Sandra Sagear Wall of Courage Honoree
Illustrator
Summer of the Tree Farm by Gloria
Whelan. Illustrator: Kirbi Fagan
A Horse Named Sky by Rosanne Parry.
Illustrator Kirbi Fagan
The Hurricane Girls by Kimberly Willis
Holt. Illustrator: Kirbi Fagan
Tornado: A Twisting Tale of Survival. Author:
Thomas Kingsley Troupe. Illustrator: Kirbi Fagan
Blizzard: A Tale of Snow-blind Survival. Author: Thomas
Kingsley Troupe. Illustrator: Kirbi Fagan
Volcano: A Fiery Tale of Survival. Author: Thomas Kingsley, Illustrator: Kirbi Fagan
Lost: A Wild Tale of Survival. Author: Thomas Kingsley Troupe. Illustrated by Kirbi Fagan
and more…
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I’m painfully aware my challenges aren’t apparently visible, even those who have known me for a long time often forget. This is why being acknowledged in 2009 meant the to me. 2023 I’m still here, fighting this unrelenting, incurable disease, more courageous every day. Thank-you for seeing me, Sandra & friends.
Submitted by Kirbi Fagan
Since Kirbi was young, things have not been easy for her, as she lives with severe Crohn’s disease. By the time I met her in high school, she was zipping around on an electric scooter, with a feeding tube strapped to her side. Kirbi would come and go from class, oftentimes disappearing for weeks on end for surgeries, procedures and treatments. It was clear how isolating her health could have made her life – if not for her resilience, kindness and willingness to reach out to others, including me, and this was how we met. Kirbi had a striking confidence, developed, I’m sure now, by the number of adult conversations that must have taken place between her, her parents and various medical professionals involved in her care through all the years.
Many coordinators of her 504 Plan were concerned Kirbi wouldn’t graduate middle school, let alone high school. She still beams about receiving the SS acknowledgment, a rarity to be acknowledged for her persistence and strength, especially because her illness is so invisible. .Kirbi and I were inseparable from the beginning. She had a zest for living her best life in spite of the serious health limitation that she lives with. Most seniors in high school are thinking about
college and starting the next chapter of their life but she was gearing up for one of her biggest surgeries yet. When she graduated, she was in need of a surgery that would remove the diseased part of her intestines. Which would permanently alter her body for the rest of her life.
She found great peace in the art courses offered at the PARK. Art was a comfort for her. As a kid, she was known for setting up beading bracelets boutiques in the infusion room or painting away her treatment side effects at all hours of the night. Kirbi now mentors young artists in our community, who also use art to cope with challenges.
Ten years after graduation, Kirbi now works at home as an illustrator. Her first
authored-illustrator book will come out in 2025.