Christian Patchell is a talented cartoonist from Philadelphia whom I had the great pleasure of meeting when I moved here.
Beyond being a skillful artist, Patch is a pretty amazing guy. A few years ago, he found out he had Stage IV tongue cancer. He had to have part of his tongue removed along with over a dozen lymph nodes. He's lived through a tracheotomy, radiation and chemotherapy.
And... he took his sketchbook along with him on every step of the way.
I've always said that cartoonists are a breed apart, but this puts Patch in a very elite class of cartoonist.
The result is a book that he's offering now through his site -- "I Put the Can in Cancer." It's a collection of sketches -- and the thoughts that those sketches now conjure -- that take you from diagnosis to Patch's life today.
It's truly an inspirational, impressive journey.
From the site:
This book is a visual journey through illustrator and cartoonist Christian “Patch”ell’s life changing battle with cancer. Patch puts words to images to tell the tale of an artist’s life before, during and after his illness. The soul of this book is the twenty-five sketches he created throughout treatments of radiation and chemotherapy. Alongside each drawing are the words that these pictures now conjure as the artist recalls stories of fear, friendship, family and love. Every purchase helps me towards a second print run and gives me the ability to donate several to charities and hospitals. (112 pgs, full color)
You can pick up "I Put the Can in Cancer" at Patch's Web site.
