Create a Cancer-Fighting Superhero

I remember sitting in an oddly dimly-lit cancer center waiting room as my late wife was having yet another MRI done when a promo for an upcoming superhero movie played on the large TV screen in front of me. For some reason there was no sound, so I just watched as the superhero determinedly engaged with some very evil-looking individuals.

My only thought was, “I sure in the hell hope there’s a superhero cancer fighter and they show up here today.”

(This article, by the way, is the third in a series of blogs where I will be sharing an idea or two for a sketch that will maybe give readers here an artistic break from the awfulness of dealing with cancer. You can read the first article here and the second article here.)

My wife’s hereditary cancer story reads like a dark work of surreal fiction filled with mind-blowing ignorance, strange happenings, failed communication, sheer awfulness, desperation, trauma and heartbreak. Sure, there were a few everyday heroes (doctors, nurses and several caring friends), but there also were numerous villains, toxic characters, clueless personalities, no-shows and disappearing acts. But sadly, there was no superhero with a save-the-day miracle that showed up in the nick of time.

Of course, the main villain was cancer — insidious, heartbreakingly cruel and incredibly evil.

Cancer is so evil it often has the ability to evade all the weapons we have to fight it. Chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, surgery and other lesser-known treatments; the disease might resist them all. It can hide for years just waiting for the chance to unexpectedly appear or reappear and wreak havoc and devastation on unsuspecting souls. And the destructive wake left behind is not limited to the life of the patient with cancer, but also many other innocent individuals connected by love or friendship to the victim.

The fear cancer invokes can be so overwhelming and paralyzing that it defies explanation. Many try and run away and hide from the evil of cancer, pretending it can’t touch them, even when it has horribly affected the lives of those close to them. Individuals who you thought would have the wits and courage to fight back and speak up against the evil that is cancer become so timid and tongue-tied that they can’t even utter the word.

And those few clueless people fortunate enough never to have been touched by cancer often choose to remain clueless, even when confronted with the staggering numbers of the millions of lives affected and lost to cancer.

I wish there was a real-life cancer-destroying superhero, and I so wish they would have shown up for my wife as well as the numerous family members and friends that cancer’s evil has affected.

But the best I can do is make one up. So, my drawing activity for this blog is a sketch of a superhero I created that I call, for the lack of a better name that isn’t already used or trademarked, “Captain No C.”

Keep in mind as you are sketching that you can make your cancer-fighting superhero any gender or ethnicity that you want. You can even make your superhero an animal or a character from another planet.

1. Start with an oval for the superhero’s head.

2. Add a small triangle just below the oval.

3. Now add a rectangle for the body.

4. Use some elongated ovals to form the arms and a couple of squares for the hands.

5. Next, again use some elongated ovals to form the legs and feet.

6. Now darken the outline and erase any unwanted lines.

7. Then, start adding in details. The costume and features can be any thing you might imagine. Get creative. (My superhero is wearing a special visor in which he can detect any mutant cells in any body.)

8. Finally, keep adding details. And don’t forget an “action callout” of the superhero delivering what we all hope for: a fatal blow to cancer.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.