As a child, with a scarf covering my bald head, I managed to keep smile on my face despite my cancer and the symptoms it brought with it. I had a brain tumor at age nine, and I kept smiling, wanting to keep up my parents morale, not knowing how close to death I was. The artwork is a pencil drawing.

Perfect freedom of a swallow tailed gull soaring over the rugged coast of a remote Galapagos coast.

Up up and away

I created and worked on this piece while I was going through radiation treatments for breast cancer. The work helped me get through a very difficult time. And when I completed the piece and my radiation treatments, I donated it to the Radiation Center here in Carson City as an expression of my gratitude for the extreme kindness, gentleness and care given by all the wonderful people who work there. The quote on the piece, &acirc;&euro;&oelig;You will not be the same after the storms of life; you will be stronger, wiser, and more alive than every before!&acirc;&euro;

Smiling Despite the Pain

By Heidi Stark-Bank

July 23rd, 2019

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