In 2021, Petaluma artist Marla Pedersen was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, at age 40. She spent much of that year alone in patient rooms with a warm blanket across her lap, waiting for PET scans, infusions or oncologist meetings. As she sat naked in her hospital gown with feelings of grief, uncertainty and fear, she often thought of all the people who had used that same gown and blanket before her. It was then that she needed something. She didn’t know what.