We’ve written here before about Regina Holliday (follow her blog), whose husband Fred died June 17. In today’s edition of the British Medical Journal, her mural is the picture of the week:

Ted Eytan MD took the picture and posted it on Flickr. Today he sent this email to Reggie:

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Dear Regina,

You made it, scroll about 3 pages down:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/section_pdf/339/sep09_3/b3681.pdf

People spend entire careers hoping to change practice by getting published in the BMJ (one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, if not the most prestigious), and you did it in 2 months through the experience reflected in your art. Incidentally, the publisher had no idea who I was or what I do when they found the photos I took on Flickr, so this was all you. What does that say about the power of the patient voice!

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And what does it say about the power of Regina’s painting to communicate?

While we’re at it, I ask that you read the caption: “Fred Holliday died from kidney cancer aged 39 the day the Senate took up health care reform. Without health insurance he couldn’t afford the tests to investigate the cause of night sweats, fatigue, and bloody urine.”