B5 Pin Artist Seeks Help

Jumpgate pin by Elana Kestrel

Jumpgate pin by Elana Kestrel

“If you or anyone you know would be interested in Babylon 5 ‘jumpgate’ pins,” writes faned Linda Bushyager, “A friend of mine, Elana Kestrel, has Stage 4 cancer and is selling these high quality pins to raise funds. She really can use the money.”

When Babylon 5 was in first run Kestrel used B5 fans’ ASCII “jumpgate” symbol to create a great collector’s item. The show’s creator, J. Michael Straczynski, praised the pin design:

JMS liked my handiwork, saying in email on October 29, 1995 that, “…it’s quite nice. By all means, good luck, looks terrific.” It is great to know that this Pin had passed THE most difficult quality test possible within the B5 fan world.

Now the artist needs financial help to keep fighting cancer:

In June 2007, your pin artist was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was treated in Portland, Oregon just before I moved to Southern Nevada. Now, two years later, the cancer is back and has spread to the liver. I am at Stage 4. There is no Stage 5. The tumor is showing signs of being under control, and with your help, it can stay that way…

Times are tough. I am having trouble affording proper food, medicine, basic living expenses and get the car’s brakes fixed so that I can safely go to chemotherapy.

I have decided to turn to the B5 community for help. My goal: sell out the rest of my pin inventory before Christmas so that I can have funds to just heal without worrying about covering the basics of life, even for just a few months.

You can see the pins online and order them today via email at Kestrel’s website — http://www.jumpgatepins.com/index.html. An online shopping cart is coming.

[Thanks to Linda Bushyager for the story.]

2 thoughts on “B5 Pin Artist Seeks Help

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention B5 Pin Artist Seeks Help « File 770 -- Topsy.com

  2. I still proudly wear one of Elana’s jumpgate pins that I bought when she and I were both regulars at the Portland-area B5 fan meetings. I hadn’t heard about the cancer before. Word shall be spread!

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