Making a start on cancer paintings

My first painting in this series (see above ) is of a young 12 year old girl - Sarah- with a bald head due to chemotherapy. Children with illnessess and diseases are amazing. They show great courage and are determined to get on with life in spite of feeling low and frightened at times. Sarah suffers from luekemia and has had a number of sessions of chemo to help fight the cancer. Any time that I have met her she has always had a huge welcoming, brave smile on her face and is full of fun, jokes and laughter. It is a tonic for anybody to meet such a brave young girl as she has no time to feel sorry for herself or be sad about the illness that she has. In the children's cancer ward she has made many great friends and is such a welcoming face to all the frightened and anxious new faces that appear from time to time.
In spite of her courage and sunny disposition you get a sense that she knows more and that there are deeper feelings that are kept to herself or shared only with her immediate family. Looking into her eyes at times you get a sense that she is searching for an explanation for it all, why has she been affected in this way? There is a sense of not knowing what will happen, some apprehension about what the future will bring.
She puts a brave face on it all and her courage and resilience strengthen all the young patients around her and gives her family hope and determination to make sure that they support her in every way they can.