SAN ANTONIO – A mother’s love for her child has motivated her to complete her schooling and create art, all while bringing awareness to childhood cancer.
“Last semester, my son was diagnosed with leukemia and my entire world flipped around and spun, and we were just left so empty inside without knowing how to cope with this or how to navigate these emotions that we as a family had never experienced before,” Melissa Long said.
During this difficult time, Long turned to art.
With Ollie as her motivation, she was able to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the UTSA School of Art.
“I hope for advocacy for childhood cancer. I hope that people learn something when they read my artwork. I hope people learn something about themselves, just like I did. I learned so much while doing my art, and I hope that I’m able to achieve that for other people,” Long said.
Long is on a mission to educate people about childhood cancer and has big dreams for her family.
“Maybe by the first of the year, I’m hoping to be able to get a solo exhibition and I’m hoping to be able to, I don’t want to just show my work on walls. I want people to connect with my art all over the world,” Long said.