The Good Fight

I’ve known about breast cancer for as long as I can remember. My biological grandmother on my mothers side passed away from breast cancer when my mom was only seven years old. I remember so clearly how much hurt and pain was in her voice when she would tell about her. Imagine being only seven years old and being without a mother.

Model: Kasey 

Despite having so much knowledge about my families horrible genetic history with breast cancer I never thought it could affect my life personally. August 2002 my entire life forever changed. My mom picked me up from my first day of sophomore year in high school and said “Mija there’s something I need to tell you...” She had felt a lump in her breast and pathology revealed that she had stage 1 breast cancer. I’ll never forget how angry she was at the beginning of her diagnosis. My mother was the kind of person who made sure that she went to the doctor and got her annual exams and yet still felt so upset that something like this still happened to her. While her oncologist offered some pretty drastic options such as a bilateral mastectomy with breast reconstruction my mom was too enraged to be able to think about her cancer potentially coming back again. A year passed off my mother being in remission and cancer free till she felt a lump on her other breast. From there it spread to her brain and eventually her bones. She fought so hard for eight years but on December 23, 2009 heaven gained the most amazing angel of all.

Dealing with the death of my mother has been the most life changing and defining moment for me. Throughout high school we did so much to raise awareness and educate those in hopes of preventing others from being diagnosed with cancer and after I graduated from high school I still wanted to do the same to raise awareness but in my own way. I’ve been raving and attending music festivals for over ten years now and I like to dedicate a day to raise awareness. I made a pink ribbon totem and dressed in all pink and the amount of people who came up to me to share their stores has been absolutely amazing.

I kept thinking about how I could further reach people in the rave community and took a huge leap in asking Rosa about my idea on festival wear dedicated for breast cancer awareness. I was in complete shock when she was so onboard with the idea! I’ve always loved rave fashion and I really felt that Rolita Couture is nothing but supporting our community and empowering the women in it. I have always admired her mission and how true her brand is to making women feel beautiful about themselves.

Now that it’s my turn to deal with my genetics as I tested positive for the same mutation as my mother I hope that I can continue to help educate others. I am a pre-vivor. I had surgery in August 2019 for my bilateral mastectomy with bilateral DIEP breast reconstruction. going through surgery without my mother has been hard. I wish she was here to help me through it, but I refuse to be another cancer statistic and not do everything possible to fight. Never take the short time we have on earth for granted. Take care of yourself and your body. Spread your knowledge, you may never know who you could save because of it. 💗💗💗

Written by Kasey