BEAUTY AND BREAST CANCER
As a blogger, I am constantly trying to figure out how much of my personal life I am comfortable with sharing. In all reality, I am a very open person with the people I meet. I've always believed in sharing personal experiences for the common good. And so, in the light of (Inter)National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I've decided to share with you one of my most personal experiences.
In my first year of university, my beautiful mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. At 17-years-old, I don't think I fully grasped the seriousness of the situation. Even now when we look back, it feels almost like a dream. Almost. I say that, though half way through writing this post I had to get up and grab a tissue. The scars will always be there as proof, I suppose.
To be honest, we were lucky. While it was the most terrifying ordeal for my close-knit family, it seems to me that there were more positives than negatives. We've learnt really how precious life is and not to take anything for granted. Mum and I have always had an open and honest relationship, but during that year we had never been closer.
You had to be there to understand, but Mum and I joked about it most of the time. We can't emphasise enough the importance of humour. I'll always remember the way we laughed (and cried) when her hair began falling out. Like me, Mum has incredible red hair, which was a huge part of her identity. Even to this day, while there are still plenty of tears, we find ourselves in hysterics when we reminisce about the night we had a play fight, with me (gently) pulling out strands of her hair and her calling me a 'b*^ch', both cracking up. I dare you to call us crazy. Suffice to say, we are 'glass half full' kind of girls. And it got us through. It really got us through.
A couple of months ago we had reason to celebrate as Mum was given the all-clear once again at her milestone 5-year check up. I can't even begin to thank the NBCF for their efforts raising awareness and funding research to lift women's chances of defeating this common disease.
O'Shirt has teamed up with gorgeous designer Jasmine Dowling to bring you this fabulous tee to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The idea behind the shirt was "beauty and breast cancer", which is more befitting than you may think. To be completely honest, I don't think my mum was ever more beautiful than when she was battling cancer (which is crazy to say, because let's be honest, my mum is smokin'!). Her strength and determination was the most inspiring thing I've ever witnessed - it was truly beautiful.
While the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is coming to a close, it is never ever too late to support this ever important cause.
I'd love to hear about your experiences, as I'm certain many of you, like myself, have been affected by breast cancer in one way or another.