Utah artist regains life with aid of strangers

"I'm absolutely feeling just awesome. I'm a new man. I've got brand new 20-year-old lungs and a 20-year-old liver," Seth said by telephone. "I'm ready to go. I want to get back on my mountain bike. I want to get back playing in the sun."

His hospitalization and recovery to date have been aided greatly, he said, by the tremendous outpouring of support he has received from family, friends, colleagues in the art world and even total strangers.

The Meyer Gallery alone raised $40,000 to help defray medical expenses; much of it came from raffling off a Seth Winegar painting at $25 a ticket.

"People have been so good," said Seth.

One of his relatives, Luke Johnson of Bountiful, quietly deposited $600 into Seth's donation account at Zions Bank.

Luke is 8. He raised the money all summer at his lemonade stand.

"The kid gave me everything he had," said Seth.

He could use it, too. The cost of the hospitalization and operation came out to $1.25 million — nearly double the original estimate (note: Seth's donation account at Zions Bank is still open).

"But there's no second-guessing; it was worth every cent," Seth said. "And I plan on paying it all back. I'm going back to the old drawing board and see if I can't be a better painter because of all this. Prices are going up."

"It will just take me time," he continued.

He paused before adding,

"But now it's time that I have."

---

Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.