An artist with ALS says that she won’t let her illness prevent her from creating.

Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith says that she grew up in the arts and participated in theater and studied sculpture before becoming a professional puppeteer in New York.

Abromaitis-Smith says that in 2011 she started to feel sick, and after a year of tests, doctors diagnosed her with ALS.

She says that she was forced to give up her career of puppeteering, moved in with her mother and had to find a caretaker. This was all while she was losing much of her ability to move and she thought, to create.

“For a long time I was buying into the idea that ‘Oh, I’m going to die soon. This thing is killing me,’” she says. “I’ve decided that instead of killing me…it’s simply changing me.”

Abromaitis-Smith found a way to paint with her feet. She says that each piece is different, but all contain the common theme of overcoming challenges.

“Living with ALS has really taught me to focus on what’s really important in life,” she says. “Waking up and being grateful…letting go of expectations of what you think you should be able to do."

More information about Abromaitis-Smith can be found at her website.