Dodge City ? Thoughts of cancer patients, their struggles and their victories occupied James Mages’ mind for most of 2008.

The Wright native, who teaches art and graphic design at Hays High School, spent much of last year working on his “Leaves of Life” sculpture for the Dreiling/ Schmidt Cancer Institute at Hays Medical Center.

The center wanted a new sculpture to replace an old mosaic honoring cancer victims, which began deteriorating when moisture and warmth caused its wooden pieces to expand and contract.

When they decided the old mosaic could no longer be repaired, medical center officials approached Mages about creating sketches for a new piece that would pay tribute to both cancer victims and those who had fought the disease and won.

The center later commissioned the piece from Mages, and his work began.

The completed sculpture, which consists of three massive tree trunks and a canopy of metal leaves bearing the names of cancer victims and survivors, was installed earlier this month on the walls of the cancer institute.

Mages said when institute employees helped install the leaves, they recalled memories of cancer patients they had known.

“It just brought back up to my mind, ‘Wow, these people are still being honored,”‘ he said in a telephone interview. “Because anytime you see the name and all that, you’re recognizing and giving them honor by people thinking about them and thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, they’re doing great,’ and all that.”

Mages graduated from Dodge City High School in 1970 and earned an associate’s degree in art from Dodge City Community College in 1972. He has taught in Hays since 1975.

After a couple of years of discussing possible designs with medical center officials, Mages began working on the sculpture about a year ago. It took him nearly a year to complete the project because he worked around his teaching schedule.

Mages carved the tree trunks out of red oak because he could stain the wood a golden color, which would reflect the color of the leaves. He also had students at Northwest Kansas Technical College in Goodland cut thousands of various-sized leaves out of metal.

As Mages worked, he took pains over small details to make the sculpture as lifelike as possible. For instance, he used a wire welder to create veins on some leaves, then applied a wire brush to the patina to make sure the veins would stand out.