Psychologist and doctoral student in Clinical Medicine at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp, Daniel Paixão Pequeno, together with his advisor, Gustavo Jacob Lourenço, created a comic book script (comic) that is based on his experiences at the Clinical Oncology Outpatient Clinic of the Hospital de Clínicas (HC) of Unicamp. The story presents the life of a patient with head and neck cancer. The comic was released in the first week of March.
The illustration is by Rafael Dias, artist and former student of the History course at Unicamp, who is known as Potato Without Navel. “Based on the script created by Daniel, the artist gave life and soul to the story, bringing to light places he had never visited and situations he had never experienced,” said Gustavo.
According to the advisor, the comic's proposal is to go beyond the clichés of cancer-themed stories and delve deeper into human suffering, presenting the individual in their various facets. To do this, we used the fundamentals of the Graphic Medicine style, which presents a playful context and the possibility of academic use. In the story, topics such as childhood trauma, care in the Unified Health System, alcoholism, family history of cancer, adherence to treatments and quality of life of family members, among others, are covered.
Daniel says that the inspiration for the comic came in 2015, when he began attending the Clinical Oncology Outpatient Clinic at the Hospital de Clínicas da Unicamp during an extension course in Hospital Psychology applied to Oncology. The following year, during his professional master's degree in Oncology, he worked with caregivers of patients with head and neck cancer. Currently, in his doctorate, he works directly with these patients. According to the psychologist, “throughout this period I was inspired by these experiences and by contact with patients, their families and health professionals”.
The author reveals that this is the first time he has written a comic book and that the process took place during the pandemic. He explains that it was necessary to transform his experiences at the Clinical Oncology Outpatient Clinic into something artistic, mixing concepts of oncology and psycho-oncology with the way of telling stories in comics. After planning the timeline and narrative form, everything went more smoothly. The author hopes that the work can resonate with all types of audiences, both in its literary aspects and in the academic sphere.
As a complement, Daniel recorded an original soundtrack with 12 instrumental tracks, to be enjoyed while reading. A QRCode on the comic's page takes the reader to platform Spotify. The songs are also available on YouTube. “The aim is to create a complete sensory experience. The track was made in the most organic way possible, with simple recording software. Every time I wrote part of the comic, I opened the program and recorded the first idea that came to mind. Only an electric guitar was used, with everything else recorded digitally on the computer keyboard”, described Daniel.
The e-book is available on Amazon website, and all proceeds will go towards actions for patients at the Unicamp HC Clinical Oncology Outpatient Clinic. In April, the digital version will also be available on PRojeto Onco SAber (PROSA) Instagram (@onco.saber), which offers information about cancer, genetics and patient care.
The preface of the comic was written by the psychologist responsible for the Psychology Service of the HC Oncology Outpatient Clinic, Karla Cristina Gaspar, who presents psychology, head and neck cancer, its relationship with art and academic use, with clarity and delicacy necessary to start the work. At the end, Professor Gustavo reflects on the impact of the work on readers and the educational and social project PROSA, created with students Daniel and Juliana Carron.
