When Lori Rucker celebrated her 70th birthday, she was surrounded by friends from every decade of her life. She has lived most of her life with multiple sclerosis, but she has found ways to keep doing what she loves: spending time with her family, traveling with her husband, swimming, and creating beautiful stained glass art.

It wasn’t until 1987, when she was an adult working in the medical field as an X-ray technician, that she finally got answers.

“The MRI came out — my office was one of the first to get one — and at that point I had probably no feeling on my left side,” Lori said. “My doctor said if I have another symptom, I needed to go to the emergency room.”

Then she went blind.

They rushed Lori to the ER, and she was sent to the hospital she worked at to get an MRI done, and it turned out to be MS.

“I started the medications available at the time, the ‘ABC drugs,’ and I did all right until 1998. It just kind of went downhill from there,” Lori said. “But, you know, I’m still here. I have great upper body strength. I can’t walk two feet, but I can swim like a fish. And my Amigo gets me everywhere I have to go. I can scoot up to a pool; I can do everything like everybody else. Walking… that’s the one thing I cannot do. I wish I could, but that’s why I call my Amigo my best friend.”

Lori said it wasn’t always easy coming to terms with needing her Amigo. She wanted to share with others who have MS to just try and walk for as long as you can — but when it’s time to get a mobility aid, like an Amigo, be open-minded.

“My MS gave me balance issues and falling is the worst, but just keep walking for as long as you can. I know it’s so difficult for a lot of people, and it was for me,” she said. “Then, when the time comes when you need an Amigo, you have to accept it. Because I look at this machine, and I just start shaking my head and say, ‘What would I do without it?’ It’s a beautiful thing; it truly is. I’m so happy that they have these things available for people like me.”

With the freedom to stay active and engaged, Lori has continued to make the most of every day. That outlook eventually led her to one of her favorite pastimes: creating stained glass art.

She shared that when her son was one year old, she began taking stained glass classes as a way to unwind.

“He was a handful. I needed some time for myself,” Lori laughed. “I took a six-session class at the adult school and just fell in love with it.”

Her husband built her bench, and she started collecting tools little by little and just kept creating her art.

“It’s been 40 years, and I’m still at it,” she said.

Creating stained glass is no easy task, and Lori is grateful to have her Amigo to help.

“I have to cut and grind the pieces at my bench, and the seat turns so that helps. Well, then I have to wash everything, and the sink is not where my workbench is. I have to bring everything in the house, wash it up, bring it back. It’s kind of a back-and-forth thing,” Lori explained. “And my husband really made my bench convenient for me because I can just zip right in with my Amigo and turn around and do what I want to do. It’s ideal.”

Lori said she never sells her pieces; she makes all of them as presents for Christmas or birthdays. She even makes them as wedding gifts.

Pictured on the right is one of the most recent (and stunning!) pieces she crafted. It’s a gift for the granddaughter of a very good friend of hers, with a beautiful frame handmade by Lori’s son.

She also made all the favors for her daughter’s engagement party and wedding, and she even made 160 megaphones for her 50th class reunion.

“Everybody wanted to pay me, and I said, ‘This is my gift to you. We’re only going to have a 50th graduation once,’” Lori said.

And she said that’s the best part of making her stained glass and gifting them.

“When I give them as gifts, I like to see the people’s faces,” she said.

Her favorite pieces she’s ever made are the large lamps pictured below. Lori’s made six of them, and though she can’t make them anymore, they are some of her proudest pieces.

Another memorable piece she’s made was a stained glass inlay for a table her son made in woodshop when he was in high school.

“He made this beautiful table and asked if I could do a stained glass inlay for it. I said yes and asked when he needed it by; he said one week, and I was just like, ‘What?!’ But I got it done,” Lori recalled. “He told me he was going to sell it — a teacher offered him $500 for the table — and I said, ‘No, you can’t. You promised it to me for Mother’s Day.’ And I still have that table.”

Stained glass may be the hobby that fills her workshop, but it’s just one of the very colorful pieces of her life. And if you ask Lori about living with MS, she won’t spend much time talking about her limitations. Instead, she’ll tell you about the life she’s built, the people she loves, and passions that keep her fulfilled.

“A lot of people say they feel sorry for me, and I’m just like, don’t feel sorry for me. I have a very rich, full life. I have a lot of friends, and I’ve got this hobby that keeps me busy every day,” Lori shared. “I have the joy and mobility to get around, to get out and see things. My Amigo is my best friend. Honestly, it is. I have a best friend in this machine because without it, I wouldn’t have any friends. It keeps me going.”

Lori’s Tips for Stained Glass Beginners

If you want to try out making stained glass art, Lori has a few pieces of advice to share.

• Take a class first just to see if you like it because it is a pricey pastime. “It is an expensive hobby to get into,” Lori said. “But you can do it little by little, and you can start out very inexpensively. That’s why I took the adult school classes. I think that class was $35.”
• Have patience. “You have to have patience with this hobby. Things break. If a piece breaks, you can’t let yourself get too frustrated. So I would take a class, and you’ll know after that first class if there’s true interest there,” she said.
• Be careful. “The only problem I have is I don’t have any feeling in my hands. One time I was working, and I dropped some solder on my leg, and I did not feel it. I’ve got the scar to prove it,” she shared.
• Enjoy it. “I think stained glass is the greatest thing. You’re making beautiful things. I mean, the things you can make are endless,” Lori said. “This morning I made a planter; that’s what I’m working on now. There are just endless possibilities.”

Ready to learn more? EverythingStainedGlass.com features tutorials, project ideas, tool recommendations, and other helpful resources for artists of all skill levels.