Corrin Lamere, 23, on Saturday evening walked around the powwow circle where she suffered a severe stroke last year.
During the 36th annual University of Kansas Powwow and Indigenous Cultures Festival, Lamere’s family hosted a women’s Jingle Dance special in gratitude for the support they’ve received from the community throughout her healing.
Lamere is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy, though she was raised on the Crow reservation and has close ties to both communities. She is also a Haskell Rascal — a term for children whose parents met at Haskell — and she took her first steps in the powwow circle at Haskell.
Her stroke during the 2024 KU powwow was caused by Moyamoya disease, a rare genetic condition that causes an artery in the brain to become blocked or narrowed.
She had been unable to speak or move one side of her body. Although her family was initially told to expect Lamere to stay in the hospital for months or even a year, she fought hard to regain her lost skills and return home after just short of 10 weeks.
Lamere’s show of resilience was a highlight of the daylong festival, which began with a tipi raising, followed by presentations on powwow basics, the rematriation of Iⁿ ‘zhúje ‘waxóbe, art workshops, research presentations by Haskell and KU students, children’s activities and a rocket launch. Elwood Ott, Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma, was recognized as the recipient of the 2025 Dr. Melissa Peterson Native Advocacy Award.
While Lamere was in rehab and before she could walk again, she told her mother, Eva McCrary, she had a dream that they were announcing her name at a powwow and she was dancing again.
“I had to hold back tears because I didn’t know if she would be able to walk again,” McCrary, Apsaalooké, said, “but I always spoke words of encouragement and hope with her.”
Lamere, a Haskell student at the time of her stroke, is now working hard full time to heal through a variety of therapies, McCrary said.
She hopes to return to school in the fall, and her ultimate goal is to complete a degree in mortuary science from Kansas City Kansas Community College. Lamere previously served grieving families through her work at Warren-McElwain Mortuary.
“Corrin is a fighter. A woman of courage and resilience,” the announcer at the powwow read from a family statement. “Each day, she walks the healing path with grace — she gets strength from her ancestors, and from all the relatives who came before her. She is a reflection of their strength, and a living testimony to the power of tradition, connection, and hope.”
The Jingle Dress Dance is “a sacred and powerful dance of healing recognized across our nations,” the statement continued. The special was for all who had held Lamere in thought, in spirit and in prayer.
“We had the giveaway to acknowledge people that supported her with kind gestures, words of support and comfort while we were having a hard time,” McCrary said.
Lamere said she is thankful for the prayers, and she enjoyed the dancing Saturday night.
If community coverage like this matters to you, please support The Lawrence Times.
Click here to subscribe.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Molly Adams (she/her), photojournalist and news operations coordinator for The Lawrence Times, can be reached at molly@lawrencekstimes.com. Check out more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Molly Adams/Lawrence Times
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
