07/27/2026
I am following several groups that do fashion shows specifically to help raise awareness about and boost funding for breast cancer research. On a recent post by one of these amazing groups, someone commented with disgust, claiming that events like these are "pony shows" and "tacky displays" that "make cancer a fad".
Cancer is not a fad. But stereotypes of cancer don't dictate who we are and how we live our lives. Being a survivor doesn't have to mean being invisible. We can represent and be seen. We can be strong and defiant. We can be loud and colorful. We don't have to hide away or shoehorn ourselves into someone else's idea of what people dealing with cancer should look like and act like.
We are fully aware that not all of our survivor community are physically able to walk in shows like this, due to the ravages of cancer itself or the aggressive treatments that we endure to gain hope for more time. We walk to bring visibility to the condition that makes life harder for those of us who cannot be seen - to make damn sure that we aren't forgotten, that people know that we are still fighting.
On one hand, it is a celebration of the lives that we are still living with vibrancy. On the other, it is a display that you cannot turn away from. Our goal is to remind those who haven't been touched by cancer that the battles wage on and research is still needed.
STILL / Stories + Images of those who go flat after mastectomy , CancerCulture , , The Grace Project , , BRCAStrong
