The Debra Ouyang Foundation

Watercolor for cancer wards Founded 2026

This foundation was started in her name.

Debbie fought cancer three times, and in the middle of that fight she became a painter. The foundation carries both facts forward.

Debbie

Debbie was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in December 2023. Over the two and a half years that followed she beat cancer three times, came through a stem-cell transplant, and stood back up after graft-versus-host disease, infection after infection, and complications that never seemed to arrive one at a time.

During those long stays, her recreational therapist, Lisa, put a paint set in her hands — and watercolor took. From a hospital bed, with an IV pole for company, she painted — and kept painting — until the work filled walls. Some of it will hang just below.

Debbie passed in August 2026, at 44, from complications of AML. That same year, her husband Ryan, her sister Sandra, and her best friend Audrey started this foundation — so that the next person in that bed can have the same opportunity to find peace and joy in painting.

To read about her life, see photographs, and leave a memory, visit her memorial site. debraouyang.com

  1. Watercolor of a green sea turtle swimming against deep ultramarine water.i Sea turtle
  2. Watercolor of a lion's face, its mane in loose strokes of orange and sienna.ii Lion
  3. Watercolor of a sunflower with a butterfly resting at its center, on a green wash.iii Sunflower
  4. Watercolor of a magenta iris, titled in her handwriting: Iris. Faith, Hope, Positive Change.iv Iris — Faith, Hope, Positive Change
  5. Watercolor of a breaking turquoise wave with white spray.v Wave
  6. Watercolor of a red fox curled asleep on green grass.vi Sleeping fox
  7. Watercolor of a figure in a hat standing in tall grass with arms open toward a yellow sky.vii Field at sunrise
  8. Watercolor of a giant panda, its black fur dissolving into violet drips.viii Panda
Plate I — the work of Debbie Ouyang, 2024–2026.

The board

  • Ryan OttoPresident · Director
  • Sandra LowellTreasurer · Director
  • Audrey ChuiSecretary · Director
  • Serena KahmProgram Chair · Director