Artwork created by a seven-year-old who tragically died has been stitched into a specially-designed coat that will now go on permanent display at one of the country's leading cancer research centres.
Blaise Nelson, from Didsbury, passed away in October 2019 aged seven after a long battle with a rare form of brain cancer.
Now, artist Rosalind Wyatt has turned three lab coats into wearable art using words and artworks provided by cancer patients and their families, including pictures from Blaise Nelson and poetry from his dad, Chris.
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Speaking about the experience of contributing, dad Chris said: “I was instantly both touched and inspired by the idea of Lab Coats.
"Immortalising your child’s creativity in this way is immensely powerful.
“Then situating the coats where the awesome, dedicated staff of ICR (Institute of Cancer Research) can be inspired by it everyday as they pioneer new treatments is a perfect marriage of creativity, legacy and research.”
Chris contributed several of Blaise’s drawings, including a picture he drew on what turned out to be Blaise’s last day of school.
The lab coats were unveiled on Monday (August 30) at an event at the ICR and are now going to go on permanent display at the cancer research institute.
Artist Rosalind said: “The plain appearance of a lab coat represents to me the white piece of paper. It’s a blank canvas upon which to tell the stories of real people.
“People whose lives have been affected or sadly cut short by cancers of unmet need. Being entrusted to tell those stories through needle and thread comes with a huge responsibility, because those words are the voices of the patients.
“I’m delighted that these artworks will be seen by the ICR’s scientists on a daily basis and I hope that by hand stitching the words of patients and their families onto the lab coats they can become part of the legacy of the great work that the ICR is doing.”
The artist focused on patients and families of patients living with cancers of unmet needs, which are cancers where there are no targeted or only limited treatment options.
One of the scientists who unveiled by artworks, by wearing one of them, Dr Paul Huang, Leader of the Molecular and Systems Oncology Team in the Division of Molecular Pathology, said: “To see our lab coats used as artistic canvases on which the words and experiences of patients have been so powerfully expressed is inspiring and it has been an honour to unveil them.
“These pieces symbolise how the patients are always at the forefront of our minds and the driving force behind our research.
“Even with incredibly challenging and biologically complex cancers of unmet need like sarcomas, all ICR researchers rise to the challenge every day in order to discover the treatments that will truly change patients’ lives.”
For more information on the project and to donate towards the ICR, click here.
