AN artist who overcame ovarian cancer said she got through the toughest year of her life by sketching NHS staff.
Gillian McLaren, 34, who was diagnosed during the height of the pandemic last spring, underwent major surgery and chemotherapy and is now in remission.
Her drawings portray the “amazing people” who got her through, doctors, nurses, cleaners and porters at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
The artist, from Stirling, said she wants to draw attention to the signs of ovarian cancer, saying she had visited doctors for several years with bowel changes, nausea, and what was thought to be urine infections.
The keen netball player said she felt healthy and at low risk from cancer, and is now urging people to join Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life events in Scotland this autumn.
McLaren said of her series, Portraits And Tales From A Hospital Bed: “It’s my tribute to them and a way of thanking them all.
“There have been times when words are not even enough to describe what it’s like having cancer. There’s pain and hurt which sometimes is better expressed through art.”
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