Oncology on Canvas Winner's Cancer Experience Shapes Her Artwork

Susan Hope Schaffer, this year's Oncology on Canvas overall winner, shares how her experience with breast cancer has helped her evolve as an artist. Her piece, "Visions of Hope," highlights how her medical team, family and other cancer survivors gave her hope through diagnosis and treatment.

"My cancer journey has gone from some pain and anguish to a beautiful result, and that's the artwork that I've created," she says. Schaffer wants her artwork, which she has submitted to the Oncology on Canvas art competition since 2008, to give hope and energy to others going through cancer.

Schaffer, who is from Bethlehem, Pa., said the competition has given her a voice over the years to document her journey, including appreciation, fear and anger. This year's piece, she says, shows the hope she's gained from her cancer experience. "Visions of Hope," along with hundreds of other submissions to this year's competition, will be on display throughout the United States in a traveling art exhibit beginning in early 2015.

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