Talk about inspiring.
A two-time breast cancer survivor has posed naked, scars and all, for Cosmopolitan magazine, with the goal of inspiring other women to be confident with their bodies before, during and after cancer treatment.
35-year-old Hanna Foxley, who recently underwent a mastectomy, says she wants to show women they can still be beautiful when they've had parts of their body removed.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2011, Foxley had a lumpectomy and eight cycles of chemotherapy before finding a second cancerous lump.
"It was like being hit by a train," she told Cosmo. "It didn’t feel real. Like most young women, I thought I was invincible,'
Her treatment, which consisted of the mastectomy and five weeks of radiotherapy, ended 18 months ago is considered a success although she is still being monitored.
"It was difficult," she told the Daily Mail on the loss of her breast. "Losing something that is so key to your femininity takes a lot of coming to terms with."
An entrepreneur and inspirational speaker, who is also the founder of the female financial advisory firm The Women's Wealth Expert, Foxley says she has decided to get reconstructive surgery because she missed wearing sexy underwear and backless dresses.
"I was worried about how my body would look and how men would react," she said, "but I also realized I still had a fit, healthy body. The only thing that had changed was the clothes I could wear."
"It’s still a shock every time I look in the mirror and see a breast missing, but I’m proud of my body and what it’s been through - it’s been poisoned, hacked and microwaved, and it’s still looking great. I have learnt to love it and adopt a positive body image and I want to empower other women to do the same. I want them to see my pictures and say 'she looks beautiful and I can too.'"
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