Fate’s Architects
Sam Ikin on William D. Higginson’s Fate’s Architects — an original painting helping fund his next round of cancer treatment, and why real art is only getting more valuable.
I love this painting. It’s called Fate’s Architects.
My old school friend and accomplished artist William D. Higginson painted it and then donated it for us to auction to help fund my treatment.
He’s a world-class surrealist and a world-class person.
It’s a chessboard, a tower, and a clock.
Time. Patience. Pressure.
He didn’t paint it for me, but it might as well have my name on it.
The short version
I’m 48. I’ve got stage 4 cancer. I’m trying almost everything.
Probably some of it works. Probably some of it doesn’t.
I’ve done the standard-of-care stuff.
I’ve done the off-label drugs.
I’ve done the “alternative” stuff that gets you banned from Facebook if you talk about it.
For the past three months I’ve been following an integrative health protocol prescribed by the doctors at Hope4Cancer.
It’s not all juices and upside-down coffee.
It’s hard work. And it’s expensive.
And if I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t.
Why this painting matters
William spent more than 50 hours on Fate’s Architects.
That’s fifty hours of someone’s life, poured into a canvas — now being used to buy me more of mine.
That’s not something I take lightly.
I’m amazed, honestly, by how many people keep showing up.
If you’re the kind of person who sees something like this and thinks, yeah, that’s worth supporting, I’d love for you to take a look.
One more thing
The auction’s live now — and it closes on October 20.
If you’re even half-thinking about it, don’t wait for the last minute. That’s when everyone suddenly remembers they meant to bid.
And look, even if you don’t give a damn about “just another dad trying to beat cancer,” think about this:
Real, human-made art like this is getting rarer by the minute.
AI’s cranking out images in seconds, and most people can’t tell the difference — but they will, soon.
When the world catches on, the value of something genuinely hand-built — a piece where you can still see the brushwork and the time it took — is going to skyrocket.
Bill’s the real deal. This is your chance to own something that actually means something.
👉 Bid on Fate’s Architects here.
Auction closes soon ... clock’s ticking