Several years ago my brother was diagnosed with leukemia. A few weeks before his 38th birthday he underwent a bone marrow transplant.

I tried to think of an appropriate birthday gift in these special circumstances. I came up with the idea of using an analogy with sports to illustrate his struggle. I drew a runner jumping hurdles on an obstacle course. The runner is approaching the last hurdle before victory in an arena full of people cheering him on. I believed that a positive and optimistic attitude, inspired by this painting, could lift a patient’s spirits. Beginning with the title “Race to Victory of……”, and then through the analogy of a patient to a runner, who is at the height of his physical prowess, the patient is encouraged to mobilize all his resources, both physical and mental, to achieve his goal – victory over his sickness – and look forward to a brighter future beyond the stressful present.

Each hurdle represents the difficult chemotherapy and radiation treatments he must undergo, stages that, like in sports, require a great concentrated effort to overcome and not, G-d forbid, break down. I asked family members and close friends to compose a short encouraging phrase like “We’re with you all the way!” “You have what it takes to win.” I pasted the messages into the “bubbles” that represent the spectators. Though each person expresses himself differently, they all have the same purpose, which is to encourage the patient to persevere.

The goal of this project is to always have before the patient’s eyes the image of his family and friends constantly “speaking” to him words of encouragement and love. Realizing how much strength my brother derived from this picture, I thought others might want to use it as well, so I produced a number of copies with blank spaces for each family to fill in with personal messages to their loved one.

Anyone interested in receiving a copy of the picture can contact me.