Hear candid conversations between people conquering cancer — patients, their family and friends, and doctors and researchers working to help us all.
After a concerning mammogram and urgent biopsy, Melissa was diagnosed with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer—all in the same appointment. Numerous questions immediately raced to her mind: Would she need chemo? Would she lose her hair? Where would she find a wig?
“Once I knew my course of treatment, what came next was figuring out what I could control about the situation,” Melissa recalls. “Layered onto that ... I just wanted to look like myself. But when I went online, and I looked for the wigs, the lashes, the post-mastectomy bras, there was nothing in one place. I thought, where's the Vogue for breast cancer?”
To help her cope and navigate cancer, Melissa’s close friend encouraged her to use her fashion and beauty industry knowledge to start a blog focused on patients with cancer. Melissa used the blog to empower patients and survivors—both during and after treatment—through style, self-care, advocacy and community. Gradually, she grew an engaged community of followers and a platform they came to love and depend on: Cancer Fashionista.
Today, Melissa uses her platform to advocate for patients and survivors, whether through education, self-care, fashion and style, personal empowerment, and more. And if there’s ever a time when people need Melissa’s particular brand of personal empowerment, it’s during the holidays.
Though the winter holidays are generally regarded as a time for joy and giving, enjoying them can feel almost impossible for people in the middle of a cancer diagnosis.
“We all embrace the holidays in different ways,” Melissa says. “Some of us really enjoy it. Some of us loathe it because we have loved ones who aren’t here with us anymore. But then you layer breast cancer into it, and it can be extremely overwhelming.”
Through her Cancer Fashionista platform, Melissa uses her fashion and beauty expertise (and her experience as a survivor) to support and advocate for other patients navigating breast cancer. That platform includes hosting—along with her best friend, Deltra—the Dear Cancer, I’m Beautiful podcast, which bridges the gap between cancer treatment, fashion, beauty, and wellness.
In this episode of Your Stories, Melissa talks about the importance of self-care when navigating cancer, especially during a time often associated with giving, celebration, and selflessness. She also shares how loved ones and caregivers can more effectively connect with and support the patients in their own lives, and, in the process, give them as joyful a holiday season as possible.
