By Kay Quinn, KSDK-TV, January 17, 2007

Cancer survivors will be the first to tell you that fighting the disease can change a person''s life. For proof, you need to look no further than a young woman whose battle with leukemia transformed her into the artist she never imagined she could be.

Angela Melo was diagnosed with leukemia last year and underwent a bone marrow transplant in May. She joined the Arts as Healing program during her recovery.

"I needed something to do. I needed a way to let out what was happening because I''m the type of person (to) fight through something...I don''t think about it, I don''t feel what''s happening.

"Six months down the road, it''s like, ''Oh my gosh, I have cancer.'' It doesn''t click right away so I was trying to keep myself busy and feel like a normal person," said Melo.

The art studio at the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis is a place where people battling the life-threatening illness can leave endless doctor''s visits, therapy and their fears behind.

Vicki Friedman is more than an Arts as Healing teacher.

"They all know I''m a survivor. I announce that first but then we drop it. We never talk about cancer again.

"I''m teaching art. I''m not teaching how to draw through your cancer. I''m teaching an art class, which is very different. It''s therapeutic in itself because it just happens."

The class provides students an outlet a way to sketch away their worries.

"I think we are all the sum total of our experiences so I think this has given me one more experience that I can celebrate with some other people like me who are going through what I''m going through," said art student Yvonne Samuel.

For Melo, it''s opened up a world of artistic possibilities. She''s become Friedman''s assistant and her artwork has gained international attention.

That aside, Melo admits art is merely an added bonus. It''s cancer that''s changed her life.

She believes without it she may have never uncovered the woman - or artist - she''s always hoped to be.

"Instead of worrying about paying the bills and just giving importance to little things that really don''t matter, you learn to live day by day," said Melo. "You have to make every day count and it took cancer to make me realize that."

For information about the Arts as Healing Program call the the Siteman Cancer Center at 314-362-7844.