Brilliance - a virtual exhibition of creative works from the global brain tumour community
Smita Bhatia Canada Title of creative work: “Compassion” Medium: watercolour Size of creative work: 7 inches x 10 inches approximately
I had a good run of nine years after my first (2013) and second (2017) diagnosis and treatment. I did reasonably well after my third recurrence (2021) and proton beam radiation. However, radiation-induced necrosis has severely impacted my vision, speech, and mobility for the past two months. I am currently on bevacizumab infusion and hope that my symptoms will be reversed. I took to art after 2013 and settled on portraits and watercolors over the past three to four years. I would rather be holding a pencil or brush in my hand at the moment! Sam - she was my constant companion during those lonely days of academic research. I got her as a six-month-old kitten, and she came with us to Canada when my husband and I moved for our post-doc research. She grew up to be a beautiful cat and boy, did she know that! She was the pride of our home and taught us what unconditional love meant. She would always know when I was down and leave a small present under my pillow (and not my husband’s) to let me know that things would turn out ok. We must have been soulmates in some past life as she too was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put down about eight months before my first diagnosis. Smita Bhatia
60