The lovely women who will feature in a new calendar next year have one cruel fact in common: all had breast cancer before the age of 40.
But they are also all delighted to tastefully bare it all, albeit covered in body paint, to raise awareness that young women can get breast cancer, too.
Amy Vasiliev from Springwood was diagnosed at the age of 31, when her children were aged two, four and 11.
“In 2013 I found the lump, was diagnosed, had a lumpectomy, had nine rounds of chemotherapy and 17 of Herceptin [a drug used to treat certain breast cancers],” she said.
Ms Vasiliev, who helps run her family roofing company as well as working as a medical receptionist at Wentworth Falls, also had a double mastectomy.
“It took me a long time to look in the mirror and like what I saw. I wanted to show women you can survive cancer and you can come out of it being beautiful.
“Just because I lost my hair [during chemotherapy] and my breasts doesn’t mean I’m not beautiful any more.”
The calendar is the brainchild of Brisbane woman, Rachelle Panitz, who herself has come through breast cancer. She was 32 and pregnant with her second child when she noticed a lump. Although initially thought to be fibrous tissue, by the time her son was six weeks old, cancer was diagnosed.
“When breast cancer turned my family and professional life upside down I decided that when I was better I would harness this setback and help empower other women.”
Ms Panitz met body painting expert Wendy Fantasia at a conference and later suggested they collaborate on the calendar as a fund-raiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Ms Fantasia spent nine hours painting Ms Vasiliev’s body for the calendar. They drew a crowd of fascinated tourists when the team gathered for photos at the Three Sisters at Katoomba recently.
The project is currently seeking partnership opportunities with sponsorship of the calendar available, including gold and silver packages, plus sponsorship of each month or inclusion on the supporters page.
Pre-sale support is available through www.rachellepanitz.com/presale. Calendars will be available for sale later this year. For further updates, join the list at http://bit.ly/bccalendarlist.
