An Virginia pig has become a celebrity while having cancer treatment at NCSU. Fran Martin's 150 pound pig is a painter and has even appeared on the Regis and Kelly show...

News and Observer
July 28, 2007
Josh Shaffer, Staff Writer

Sick, artistic pig finds help at NCSU

RALEIGH - One look at Smithfield the pot-bellied pig reveals his special traits: the blue eyes, the star-shaped mark on his forehead, the paintbrush jutting from his porcine jaws.

The 150-pound swine paints abstract art with his mouth -- once selling a painting for $1,300 at a charity auction, once appearing on "Live With Regis and Kelly."

Then snout cancer silenced his muse. Now Smithfield is the most celebrated patient at N.C. State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, enduring a summer of 19 radiation treatments while stuck in a Raleigh campground.

"They X-rayed his lungs, they sampled his blood and his lymph nodes, so that gave us hope," said Fran Martin, the pig's owner and art teacher. "Then they took the tumor out in June. It was as big as my thumb."

Hope aside, Martin needs help.

She and Smithfield live outside Richmond, Va., and this is their second bout with pot-bellied pig cancer -- a rarity.

Four years ago, the bills at N.C. State -- the last word in large-animal treatment, a sort of Mayo Clinic for swine -- ran to $8,000, more than half of which came to her through generous admirers.

She fears the bills will rise that high again, and she hopes large-animal lovers will help with money and companionship. Martin gets lonely at the campground where she and Smithfield are spending the summer.

"I can't afford a hotel," she said, asking that their location stay a secret. "I'm a schoolteacher."

Martin, who said she "looks 45," bought Smithfield for her two young boys after a trip to the Chesterfield County Fair outside Richmond.

He was the lone pig in his litter, and before long, he had mastered all the doggie tricks Martin taught him. Bowing. Turning in a circle. Bouncing objects on his snout.

Hearing that pigs had roughly the intelligence of a 6-year-old child, Martin taught Smithfield to paint.

He took to it immediately, picking up a brush dipped in blue, dabbing at the canvas, then choosing another dipped in red or yellow.

"By golly, he did it," Martin said.

They may be abstract, Martin said, but Smithfield's paintings always leave an impression. His work has fetched more than $1,000 per painting, helping to build a children's cancer center in Richmond.

A robust pig lives to 18 years, and Smithfield is just 10. With the cancer in remission, Martin figured him good for at least another five -- until June, when the tumor reappeared.

At N.C. State, Smithfield sees several surgeons, a radiation oncologist and a pot-bellied pig specialist: Dr. Kristie Mozzachio.

His treatments take about 30 minutes including anesthesia. Aside from a little mouth soreness, she said, he springs back from each session like a baby pig.

"He doesn't know he has cancer," his physician said. "He's doing great."

While she waits, Martin hopes for a little company on her morning walks, which start at 8:30 a.m. each day at Gate 5 of the N.C. State Fairgrounds.

She said exercise gives her a sense of purpose, a feeling of solidarity with the beloved pet while he heals. She invites anyone to join her. Original article...

"Maybe they've been putting off exercise, putting off losing a little weight," she said. "Smithfield isn't putting it off. He's being brave." Original article...