The work of a talented artist and nurse who sadly died following a battle with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is being celebrated as part of a charity art exhibition which launches today to help raise funds for MND Charity, the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
Spearheaded by the College’s Director of Heritage, Chris Henry, the exhibition features beautiful pieces of art and prints created by Sandie Youngson throughout her years as a self-taught artist.
Before her passing earlier this year, grandmother-of-eight Sandie, from Aberdeenshire, had worked as an artist and was a former Macmillan nurse who ran classes for terminally ill cancer patients whilst encouraging the therapeutic quality of painting.
During her fight with MND, although no longer able to paint, Sandie still gained and gave enormous pleasure in sharing her paintings with loved ones and all of those who came to enjoy her exhibitions.
Her husband, former RCSEd Vice President and council member George Youngson, is also helping to launch the event at the College’s Surgeons’ Hall Museums in Edinburgh. The retired paediatric surgeon said:
My wife’s remarkable artistic practice had a huge impact on the many people she worked with, and the College is doing Sandie a great honour in showcasing this exhibition of her art. Much of her generosity included donating her work to charities. Therefore, our family have chosen My Name’5 Doddie as the beneficiary of an exhibition of her paintings being held in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Sandie’s courage and spirit in coping with MND is well reflected in the charity’s founder Doddie, his family and his team of supporters. The foundation has shown the leadership and advocacy in promoting awareness and exploring new treatments that are so desperately needed in an illness that has been so difficult to make progress on. I’m enormously grateful to the College for allowing us to show Sandie’s paintings. If she could have known that her art could provide pleasure for some, at the same time supporting research into this awful condition, then she would have been thrilled.
The exhibition includes prints and cards featuring Sandie’s distinctive seascapes, beach scenes, and colourful landscape paintings.
Sandie, who was also a mother-of-three, was inspired mainly by memories of her childhood and depicted growing up along the Scottish coastlines.
Jill Douglas, CEO of My Name’5 Doddie Foundation commented:
Thank you to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Youngson family for their generosity in supporting the work of My Name’5 Doddie Foundation with this wonderful event. Sandie’s story has moved everyone at the Foundation and we’re so pleased that her beautiful artwork is being exhibited. Motor Neuron Disease (MND) is not incurable, it’s just underfunded, and events like this will help our fundraising efforts as we continue to invest in targeted MND research and support patients living with MND.
Support the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation by making a donation or purchasing a print/postcard here.