Art program gives patients opportunity to focus on something other than cancer

"It's been kind of like, I'm taking a hold of it, you know, and not just letting it lie there and do whatever it does," Riaz said. "It's like I'm saying 'here, this is what I have and this is what it looked like at one point.'"

"You can't let it define you," Maack said.

More than 80 HCI patients, family members and hospital staff have participated in the program since it began July 31, 2012.

The artist and supplies are sponsored by a grant from the LiveStrong Foundation.

The exhibit, which will take place at Huntsman Cancer Institute Tuesday, is only open to those who participated in the program.

"It's really exciting for me because we sit in a class together, but we don't always see each other's finished products, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what everybody's done," Maack said.

Contributing: Viviane Vo-Duc

Email: cmikita@desnews.com