Editorial Review | Falcon Review

“Balland’s book doesn’t pretend that cancer takes nothing or softens what it does. It simply refuses to let the taking be the whole story. Balland delivers a powerful testament to living authentically alongside uncertainty.”

— Falcon Review, Printed Word Reviews

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This GoFundMe helps place Canvas of Courage directly into the hands of women facing cancer treatment — through hospitals, support groups, and care kits.

How Your Support Helps

• The paperback book costs $17.99 per copy

• With tax, shipping, and placement logistics:

  • $25 places one book with a patient

  • Larger gifts help expand reach to more clinics and programs

Books funded through this campaign are placed thoughtfully and respectfully in partnership with healthcare providers and cancer support organizations.

If this mission speaks to you — or if you’d like to donate in honor of someone who has faced cancer — your support makes a direct and meaningful impact.

About the Author

Nerissa Balland is a visual artist, author, educator, and therapeutic arts practitioner whose work explores the intersections of creativity, healing, identity, and human connection. After spending nearly two decades in branding and design, she transitioned into full-time artmaking and arts education, later developing workshops and community-centered experiences focused on emotional processing, resilience, and well-being through creative expression.

She holds an MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute and has taught advanced visual arts courses, including AP Art and Design. Her mixed-media practice combines layered textures, symbolism, storytelling, and themes of protection, transformation, and connection.

Nerissa’s entry point into arts in health emerged through her own experience being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma while pregnant, and later through conversations with hundreds of individuals navigating illness, grief, and adversity. These experiences informed her book Canvas of Courage: The Art of Healing, Hope, and Gratitude for Young Mothers Facing Cancer, which explores how creativity, gratitude, and personal expression can support healing and meaning-making during life-altering experiences.

Through her artwork, speaking, writing, and workshops, Nerissa advocates for creativity not as luxury or talent, but as a human need and a powerful tool for reflection, connection, and healing.

Book Overview

Canvas of Courage is a deeply human collection of 19 stories from young mothers navigating cancer—told through the lens of gratitude, mindset, and therapeutic art. Blending memoir, storytelling, and creative healing, the book illuminates how art becomes both language and lifeline when words fall short.

Each chapter includes “Grace Points”—reflections offering perspective, emotional grounding, and hope for patients, caregivers, and anyone walking beside illness. Rather than focusing on diagnosis alone, Canvas of Courage centers resilience, motherhood, community, and the quiet strength found in creative expression.

Fast Facts

• 19 personal stories from young mothers facing cancer

• Cancer types represented:

  • Breast Cancer (various types)

  • Leukemia

  • Metastatic Melanoma

  • Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

  • Thyroid Lymphoma

• Every chapter includes “Grace Points” (key emotional and practical takeaways)

• Art is used as a therapeutic and emotional processing tool

• Approx 100 women were interviewed in the process of creating this collection.

Why This Book Matters

Cancer impacts far more than the body—it reshapes identity, family dynamics, and emotional well-being. Canvas of Courage offers a compassionate, creative companion for those navigating illness and for the communities supporting them.

Core themes include:

• Healing beyond the clinical setting

• Gratitude as grounding (not toxic positivity)

• Art as emotional processing

• Motherhood during illness

• Community, visibility, and resilience