I want to share one of my very special clients journey’s on the path of suddenly finding out you have breast cancer… It is a massive identity stealing disease and those that come out the other end with a life are hero’s to those of us that haven’t faced the battle. For the person fighting … they aren’t given a choice. It is their place. I want to share her words with all of you, the following is written by her.

Many years ago, I wanted to do a boudoir photo shoot, but when I looked at my body in the mirror it just did not feel like the right time. My thighs were too lumpy and bumpy, I did not have anyone to give the photos to…the list of reasons why it was not a good time was longer than the list of reasons to do it. The thought stayed in the back of my mind of somedays I will do this.
Last year I began following Meghan Younker’s work and the someday thought arose again – someday when I lose the extra not so baby anymore weight, I will contact her for a boudoir shoot. So, I watched as she posted new photos and I envied the bodies in those photographs. If my butt looked like that, I would totally schedule a shoot, but my booty does not look like that and my boobs, well after nursing two babies definitely do not look like that.

On July 17th I was diagnosed with breast cancer a 9 x2cm mass in my right breast. On July 28th I met with Meghan. It no longer mattered that my booty was bigger than it had ever been in my life, that my boobs weren’t as perky or that my belly, well, had carried two babies and endured an emergency hysterectomy after my uterus ruptured in childbirth. All I knew was that my body was about to change drastically, and I wanted, or needed, to capture the moment in time. It was no longer about looking perfect in a picture or giving the gift of my body to someone else. It was now just for me – to feel beautiful in my skin, to feel beautiful right where I was – in this amazingly strong body that was now going to battle breast cancer.

The day before my scheduled session I texted Meghan that I needed to reschedule, but before I sent the message, I deleted it. The day of my session I texted Meghan surely, she would understand that I couldn’t go through with it, but again deleted the message before sending.
I arrived at Meghan’s studio clutching the bag of lingerie I had purchased, feeling like I was way out of my element! I had been lying to my husband as I went on shopping excursions and that I was at work this very day. I have never considered myself sexy or seductive. I don’t really like being in my bathing suit let alone standing in front of someone basically naked. Yet, here I was ready to bare all, bare all I did and it was amazing!

That afternoon as I looked through the photo proofs, I was amazed at the strong seductive person captured in the photographs, and even more amazed that the person I was looking at was me!
This experience helped me feel beautiful, strong and capable of what lied ahead.
A week later I had a double mastectomy, and a month after that I gifted my husband a beautiful book of almost all of the photos taken during my boudoir session – including my favorite a straight up water boob shot, I never realized how beautiful my bare breasts looked in the shower! He cherishes this gift greatly, but I know that I cherish it even more as it will always be a reminder of how seductive and sexy I truly am.
-Cassidy D.

I hope you can see through her journey, through her eyes… that this is something so truly powerful for your inner self.