npj Breast Cancer · Published 2026-05-15 · DOI 10.1038/s41523-026-00969-2
Sema Yilmaz Rakici, Bulent Cetin, Esra Aydin, Bilge Gursel
Drawing offers a powerful means of expressing lived experience when words fail. This commentary analyzes the final drawings of a woman with breast cancer, examining how her artwork reflects an evolving confrontation with mortality across diagnosis, recurrence, and metastatic disease. Grounded in existential psychology, the article highlights grief, hope, faith, and death awareness, and argues for integrating psychological and spiritual perspectives into palliative and end-of-life care for patients and families.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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Rakici, S., Cetin, B., Aydin, E., et al. (2026). Facing death: the last drawings of a woman with breast cancer at the end of life. npj Breast Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-026-00969-2