Cyndi Freeman's story of receiving frightening advice from her doctor—and how it inspired a surprising career change—was recorded at one of The Story Collider's first shows, in August of 2010. In the "Bad Medicine" issue of our magazine, we bring you an illustrated version by Tammy Stellanova. (Contains explicit images.) To listen as you read, click on "View All" below, and tune in to the podcast here: [mp3-jplayer tracks="CyndiFreeman@http://s3.amazonaws.com/storycollider-podcast/episode7-Freeman.mp3" flip="y" width=40%] Tammy Stellanova is an illustrator and comic artist who splits her time between the big island of Hawai'i and Berkeley, California. Tammy is the author of a number of self-published comics, as well as an upcoming book featuring her nature illustrations. You can read more about Tammy and see her work at www.tammystellanova.com, as well as at www.stellanovajewelry.com, a site that features her illustrated natural history jewelry.

Story by Cyndi Freeman. Ms. Freeman is a two-time FringeNYC award-winning performer and playwright. She performs burlesque as Cherry Pitz and is a co-producer of and performer with Hotsy Totsy Burlesque, New York’s only ongoing monthly burlesque soap opera. She is also co-producer of and a performer with monthly burlesque, storytelling, and comedy show And I Am Not Lying. In addition to burlesque, Ms. Freeman is frequent performer of live storytelling in NYC and a recipient of a grand prize playwriting fellowship award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (with collaborator Ellen Groves). Her other credits include HBO, Comedy Central and Showtime Television.