For two‑time breast cancer survivor Farahana Kassam, stumbling into Baylor Scott & White Health’s Arts in Medicine (AIM) program felt like finding a lifeline just when she needed it most.
Discovering the Arts in Medicine program
After her second breast cancer diagnosis, she longed for a kind of healing that medicine alone couldn’t reach. She found that healing in one-on-one art therapy sessions and later at the AIM open art studio — free resources for patients, caregivers and care teams.
“The healing came from allowing myself to simply be in this space,” Farahana said. Art therapy became a quiet refuge where she could express emotions she had carried for years. “It wasn’t about being a cancer patient. It was about years of emotions I hadn’t let myself express.”
From patient to advocate: turning healing into purpose
Though she never thought of herself as an artist, she eventually picked up a brush. Soon, her artwork found its way onto the walls of the Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center – Dallas. That spark grew into Flaunt Flat Revolution, a nonprofit she launched to support fellow breast cancer survivors.
“The Arts in Medicine program is a unique space of healing for anyone navigating cancer,” she said. “We need places where we can leave everything at the door, be ourselves and connect.”
Today, she pays that healing forward through art therapy programs shaped by her own journey.
“Art has been the color of my experience,” she said. “I believe we’re all here for a purpose. Mine is to live fully — a life in color.”
The same AIM program that helped Farahana heal exists because donors choose to invest in moments of peace and creativity for patients.
Since 2016, donor support has made possible:
- 3,500+ patient sessions
- 9,870 studio participants
- 2,000+ staff sessions
Your generosity can open this kind of healing to more patients and families who need a place to breathe, create and feel whole again.
Provide a sanctuary of hope and healing by supporting art therapy.
For more information, contact
