Haleigh Albright's artwork selected by Wake Forest University Comprehensive Cancer Center

BURLINGTON, NC, October 22, 2011 (Press-News.org) National Agents Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Albright and his wife Jane are proud to announce that their daughter Haleigh has had her artwork selected to serve as the front of the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's inaugural Thanksgiving card, which will be mailed to around 17,000 donors across the United States.

Albright, a 16-year-old junior at Western Alamance High School, submitted her artwork of a red wagon filled with pumpkins along with numerous other artists, but Albright's theme immediately caught the selection panel's attention.

Jan Knox, development officer with the Comprehensive Cancer Center at WFBMC, said the implementation of the red wagon, which is similar to those used to transport children receiving cancer treatments at Brenner Children's Hospital, put Haleigh's submission over the top.

Haleigh Albright shows off her winning artwork with her parents and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's Jan Knox.

"From out of all the submissions, we chose Haleigh's because of the red wagon she included," Knox said. "We use red wagons to transport the children at Brenner Children's Hospital when they are going through treatments throughout the medical center. When Jane was being treated there, she shared with me that the most touching part of her treatment was seeing the children smiling when they were riding in the wagons. That was the connection we found through Haleigh's artwork and why we chose to use her entry."

Those smiles helped Jane endure eight months of treatments, and Jane continued to work as a school teacher with children the same age as some of those she encountered at the hospital. Jane has been cancer free for 20 years, but still remembers seeing children smiling at her while riding around in red wagons.

Knox estimates that roughly 17,000 people who have donated money toward research, education and patient care at the medical center located in Winston-Salem, N.C. will receive Haleigh's artwork on a Thanksgiving card from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center's Office or Development.

"We like to make an effort to acknowledge donor gifts and just touch base with people to thank them throughout the year," Knox said. "For the past five years, the Coy Carpenter Society has always sent out basic generic Thanksgiving cards that just had our logo on the back. This year, it was suggested that we try to find someone that has a personal connection with us to provide artwork for the card. Haleigh had sent me a Christmas card last year from her family and I asked her to submit a piece for consideration."

The Coy Carpenter Society is made up of hundreds of generous donors who have given or will give the bulk of their endowed gift through their estate to any area of the Wake Forest University Medical Center or School of Medicine.

Haleigh, who has provided artwork for her family's Christmas cards since she was 5, said her mother told about the project and encouraged her to submit an entry.

"She told me to just draw a wagon full of pumpkins and colored it with colored pencils, so I started with a pencil sketch and then filled it in with my prismacolor pencils," Haleigh said. "I didn't realize that they rode the children around in wagons until my mom told me. I've been thinking about doing something with pediatric nursing lately, so it was cool to learn about that."

Another surprise for Haleigh was the number of people that will now have her artwork in their homes on Thanksgiving.

"That's really cool," Haleigh said. "I didn't know it was going out to that many people. I thought it might be a hundred or so. I've always done our family Christmas cards for family and friends, but they know me and they know I can draw. This is going to 17,000 people who are going to know that I can draw now. I'm also excited that it's going to people who support cancer research."

ABOUT WAKE FOREST BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine, the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children's Hospital, the commercialization of research discoveries through the Piedmont Triad Research Park, as well a network of affiliated community based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities.

Wake Forest School of Medicine is ranked among the nation's best medical schools and is a leading national research center in fields such as regenerative medicine, cancer, neuroscience, aging, addiction and public health sciences. Wake Forest Baptist's clinical programs are consistently ranked as among the best in the country by U.S.News & World Report.

The system comprises 1,004 acute care and rehabilitation beds and has been ranked as one of "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report since 1993. Wake Forest Baptist also holds the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission, the nation's esteemed standards-setting and accrediting body for health care quality. Wake Forest Baptist has 94 physicians listed in Best Doctors in America . The institution is in the top third in funding by the National Institutes of Health and fourth in the Southeast in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.