PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lisa Pon
AU  - James F Amatruda
TI  - Breast cancer between faith and medicine: the Peres Maldonado ex-voto
AID  - 10.1136/jmh.2010.005587
DP  - 2010 Dec 01
TA  - Medical Humanities
PG  - 112--114
VI  - 36
IP  - 2
4099  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/36/2/112.short
4100  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/36/2/112.full
SO  - J Med Humanit2010 Dec 01; 36
AB  - An ex-voto (from the Latin for ‘from the vow’) is an image made to express the patron's gratitude for divine assistance in the face of personal difficulty. Here, we describe a late 18th century Mexican painting that shows Doña Josefa Peres Maldonado undergoing a mastectomy, and, as an ex-voto, expresses her thanks for divine aid in having survived the operation. As such, the painting manifests Doña Josefa's response to her disease, drawing on both medical and religious sources of support. This brief report analyses the unusual double dedication of the ex-voto, the elaborate home altar it depicts and the surgical technique it demonstrates.