Artist who had breast cancer has artwork displayed in London

Helen Lack, an international contemporary artist from Aldenham, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in February 2020 and has been fighting the disease throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Mrs Lack said she felt like “the world was collapsing around me” when she was diagnosed with the cancer last year, but said she painted pictures as a way of taking her mind off the disease.

She said: “Everything I painted was an expression of thought, mood and feeling. Each piece has message and feeling.

The painting by Helen Lack (photo Helen Lack)

“When I was diagnosed, I said to nurse that ‘I will paint my way through this’ and of course I did.”

Just before fully recovering in March 2021, Mrs Lack painted a picture, which she dubbed ‘My dedication to the NHS’, as a way of expressing her feelings and emotions to the NHS for “saving her life”.

And it was recently chosen to be screened on multi screens at Flannels, London’s flagship fashion store in Oxford Street, as part of the #MakeItBlue campaign – a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising funds for mental health charities.

Helen Lack's photos on display at Flannels (photo Helen Lack)

Mrs Lack said “she had no idea” that her work would be screened in London.

She added: “It was a phenomenal feeling for my work to have been selected. It meant even more because it was my thanks to the NHS and for them to have seen that that made it even more special.

“It is an amazing achievement to showcase your work on screens in Oxford Street and is the best feeling ever.”

The artwork will not be sold and will remain in the family because of its sentimental value, Mrs Lack said.

A number of her paintings are also in many NHS hospitals across the UK.