Syed Ali Shazif Baqari, Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Physician at Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center, shared on LinkedIn:
“I came across this striking artwork by Meerish Khan in a Childhood Cancer Month poster shared in the Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncology (PSPO) WhatsApp group by Dr Zainab Umar Kamal.
I don’t know the actual background or intended meaning of the portrait, so what follows is simply my personal interpretation of what I saw in it.
As someone working in paediatric haematology, oncology and stem cell transplantation, I immediately connected the image with the experience of a child going through cancer treatment.
- The darkening of the skin.
- The loss of hair.
- The altered appearance.
- And the face beneath it all – almost as if the beautiful, familiar self has gradually become difficult to recognise.
We often speak about childhood cancer in terms of survival, remission, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, transplantation and complications. These are, of course, essential parts of cancer care.
But there is another dimension that deserves equal attention: what cancer treatment does to a child’s sense of self.
For a child, hair is not merely hair.
Skin is not merely skin.
A scar is not merely a scar.
These changes can affect confidence, identity, relationships with peers and the way a child sees themselves.
Modern childhood cancer care therefore cannot be limited to eliminating the disease. It must also help children preserve – and, when necessary, rediscover – their identity, confidence and sense of normality.
Perhaps this is not what Meerish Khan intended when creating this artwork. Perhaps the portrait represents an entirely different personal story. The artist’s own experience and inspiration would be important to understand before assigning a definitive meaning to it.
But this is what the artwork made me think about:
Behind every diagnosis of childhood cancer is a child trying to remain a child.
And our responsibility is not only to help them survive cancer, but to help them live beyond it – with dignity, confidence and a sense of their own beautiful self.
Artwork: Meerish Khan
Seen in a Childhood Cancer Month poster shared by Dr Zainab Umar Kamal through PSPO.”
Other articles featuring Syed Ali Shazif Baqari on OncoDaily.