Can-do attitude: canSURVIVE exhibit reflects struggles, triumphs of cancer survivors

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — Photographer Chad Hurst wanted a way to shed light on the struggles and triumphs cancer survivors face.

So he took their picture.

Hurst's photographs can be seen Sept. 17 as part of canSURVIVE, a benefit gallery show at Noah's in South Jordan.

Hurst, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer just one week after returning home from an LDS mission, said he was inspired not only by his own fight, but the battle of someone close to him.

"Obviously cancer survivors hold a lot of value, but the number one reason was my mother-in-law who passed away in 1997," Hurst said. "I never met her, but I saw the impact it has on my wife. After all these years she still struggles with the loss of her mother due to cancer and being a cancer survivor myself is almost secondary."

Hurst said the idea of photographing something powerful had been brewing for a long time.

"I was always looking for a project that meant something," Hurst said. "Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to shoot something that really had value. I fell into advertising and that has value and is fun to shoot, but I needed that project with meaning."

For the event, Hurst teamed up with Utah's UCREW, an educational research organization that aims to spread awareness as well as provide money for the small and often overlooked expenses that come with treatment.

"The unique thing with the program we offer is it's the minute things people don't even think about," said founder and director Philip Brown. "From paying for food to transportation costs to get to the doctors. The money goes toward little things, but all the thank-you letters we receive are appreciative of that."

Mike Carnley, Karen Lipscomb and Eve LeClaire are three of the survivors who were photographed for the event and said being able to share their stories is a form of therapy.

"You see men and women, young and old," said Carnley, who also took part in the first canSURVIVE event last year. "Everybody is involved and you get to see their story. You get to hear their story and hear how they're dealing with it. It's a warm and fuzzy feeling. If I had to pick one word, it would be inspiring."

In 2007, Carnley went into the dermatologist for a blister-like growth on his skin. It turned out to be amelanotic melanoma, a form of skin cancer in which the cells do not produce melanin. A week later Carnley went into surgery where doctors discovered four active tumors on his lungs.