Shay Sharpe posed for a photo-shoot following the removal of her breasts, to show the world that she’s ready to celebrate her scars. Back in 2004, when Shay was just 26 years old, she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
‘Nothing can prepare you for cancer, even if you had a family history,’ she said. ‘Breast cancer wasn’t on the radar because for all I know you can’t get breast cancer till you’re 40. ‘In my mind you can’t because you can’t get a mammogram till you’re 40 so how would you get breast cancer prior to that?
In 2014, Shay’s cancer returned. This time around she didn’t want to bother with breast reconstruction and implants, and made the choice to have both breasts removed. It took a while for Shay to learn to love her body after surgery.
But slowly she began to embrace her new looks – and now, she celebrates the scars left behind by surgery by posing topless and sharing the pictures. ‘These breasts don’t define me, this isn’t what makes me a woman,’ she says.
I just did a photoshoot and a young woman said I was the first person she’s seen of colour who has a mastectomy online. ‘I have a plethora of topless photos online and some people love it, some people hate it. Other people say I give them strength.
‘I am comfortable flat chested, I don’t mind. If people are like: “how do you find clothes to conceal it?” “There is no concealing it.” ‘I am comfortable with my scars and I am comfortable exposing them