by Terry Trahan, Jr.

“When my disease struck, I wanted to bring the beauty of our area to the people,” says Darlene Martin-Eschete, a local scenic and wildlife photographer. “Your whole life stops, and it makes you open your eyes to what’s important in life.”

Eschete, who lives in a secluded cabin nestled among Bourg’s bayou trees and foliage, has overcome a rare muscular and skin disease to pursue her love for photography and the Louisiana landscape.

In 2004, doctors diagnosed Eschete with dermatomyositis, an autoimmune condition causing inflammation of the skin and underlying muscle tissue that is chronic and incurable. She had suffered weeks of pain before being diagnosed, but that pain would eventually bridge her zest for life with a heightened pictorial appreciation for the world around her.

Nearly five years ago, Eschete received a spider bite and later contracted poison ivy, both releasing toxins into her body. She was prescribed steroids but was not told to avoid sunlight. After going to a beach, she developed a rash on her forehead and redness on the tips of her fingers. One of her eyes was also nearly shut. She visited a dermatologist and later an internist, who drew up to 16 vials of blood per visit for testing, but no definitive conclusion was made concerning her abnormal symptoms.

Eschete would eventually spend time at Terrebonne General Medical Center and Tulane Medical Center. Upon observation at Tulane, doctors diagnosed her with the rare muscular and skin disease, which affects five in a million patients. After the diagnosis, she was administered aggressive steroid treatments and received nutrition via enteral feeding. She remained
in the hospital for six weeks.

“They couldn’t guarantee I was going to recover,” she recalls. “I had the feeling that I was going to die. I did my best to do what they wanted me to do. I couldn’t brush my hair or lift my hand to brush my teeth. Using the bathroom was very difficult.”

Eschete was allowed to return home for Christmas when South Louisiana experienced its first snowfall in years. “I felt like it was a message from God saying I was going to be okay,” she says. “I would pray every day,” Eschete says, “I got to the point in which I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked God to get me better or take me home. I started getting better, so I figured He had a purpose.”

“My muscles would begin to recover. My mom would push me to get up and walk. She handed me a broomstick to exercise my muscles. That broomstick felt like 1,000 pounds!”

By May 2005, Eschete’s improving condition allowed her to venture into the community once again. She remains allergic to sunlight and fluorescent light and suffers from muscle weakness. Still, she has overcome these obstacles through treatment and now manages to pursue her passion for preserving nature at its finest hour.

“I fit my disease in,” she says. “It doesn’t fit me in. That’s a mainstay for my art. Photography is an outlet for me to express my internal beauty to others.”

“I’ve always been interested in photography,” she proceeds. “I have a picture when I was eight years old with a camera in hand.” To study the intricacies of her craft, she enrolled in a course at the New York Institute for Photography. She learned the history of cameras and how to use the device beyond the simple point-and-shoot technique to better her talent.

“Today, I look fine,” she says. “But I have lots of scars to prove it.” As Eschete photographs in the dim light of dawn and dusk, her disease fades gently into the background. It retains its presence, but it certainly doesn’t stop her artistic ambitions. PoV

View Eschete’s work at Southdown Marketplace and
Art After Dark both on April 4, or on her website at
bayoubellephotography.com.