Bolingbrook – A visual message of hope and triumph now greets patients at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital's Breast Center.

Susan Nix, cancer program and data services coordinator, donated her winning three-panel artwork to the breast center. It's the last thing women see when they leave the imaging department. The piece took first place at the hospital's first Pink Ribbon Art Contest, held to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She won a $500 Apple gift card, but that was not her primary motivation for entering.

"I really wanted to do a message, not just win a contest," Nix said. "So I sketched different ideas until I had one that delivered a powerful message. I wanted people to see the suffering as women go through it, but I also wanted them know the result can be survival."

Nix, an artist since childhood, created a three-panel dot and marker piece that moves the viewer through three phases of managing breast cancer. In the first panel, the woman is distressed about her diagnosis. In the second, she is beginning to accept it. The final panel features a scar in place of a breast along with a pink ribbon, strong symbols of the woman's victory.

Dr. Jason Goliath, a breast specialist and medical director of Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital's Breast Center, thanked Nix for sharing her talent with the patients and visitors coming to the breast center.

"Susan's artwork is moving and inspirational," Goliath said. "We're grateful to be able to display it."

At Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, Nix studies the history of cancer patients and keeps records of them until they die, so she has seen firsthand the anxiety and depression patients experience. "I see what they go through during each step of the process," Nix said.

Nix, a Woodridge resident, hopes her artwork communicates how, while cancer leaves scars that are more than skin deep, the experience can also toughen and strengthen a woman.

"I have a friend who is an 11-year breast cancer survivor," Nix said. "I've seen her become very emotional and cry at meetings when they talk about breast cancer. But I've seen her grown through these 11 years. She's a survivor."

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Adventist Midwest Health includes Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, Adventist GlenOaks Hospital, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital. To find a physician, visit www.keepingyouwell.com.