Breast Cancer Patient Poses For High Fashion Shoot
A woman with incurable stage IV breast cancer flew to Paris to pose in couture for a high fashion photo shoot.Jill
Brzezinski-Conley, 35, a double mastectomy patient who lives
Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, was invited to the French capital
by portrait photographer Sue Bryce.
Talking about her day in front of the camera Mrs Conley told the Huffington Post: 'I felt like
Cinderella. I didn’t feel like a cancer patient. They made me feel like a
supermodel.'
However a day before her 32nd birthday on July 15, 2009 she was diagnosed with Stage IIIC invasive breast cancer. The news came just six months after she married 'the man of her dreams', Bart, who she originally met in Las Vegas.
Strong spirit: Mrs Conley was was diagnosed with Stage IIIC invasive
breast cancer one day before her 32nd birthday on July 15 2009 and last
year she was told it was terminal
She told the New York Daily News: 'I'll never forget that day. I fell to the floor. I was by myself and I couldn't stop crying.' After 16 bouts of chemotherapy, 31
rounds of radiation, a double mastectomy and numerous reconstructive surgeries she
finally entered remission. However last year she discovered the cancer had returned and spread to her bones. A consultant confirmed it was terminal. After receiving the news Mrs Conley went to visit her best friend Nikki Closser, a wedding photographer based in Seattle. She asked her to take pictures of her breasts in a bid to help raise breast cancer awareness. 'Magazines always talk about
breast cancer, but they never show it, I want to be able to show men and women
that you can still be beautiful or sexy with cancer,' she explained.
Ms Closser agreed and after the shoot, she sent the images of Mrs Conley along with her story to another photographer Sue Bryce whose work she followed.
Ms Bryce, who runs Wild Child
Photography, was so moved by Mrs Conley's story that she invited both
women to take part in a photography workshop in Paris for five
days. Video grapher Hailey Bartholomew was also recruited to make a film detailing the trip. Mrs Conley, who had never been to Paris before, did not wear prosthetic
breasts for the occasion because she wanted to empower other women in her position. 'I wanted the photo shoot to be for
women who look like me, [to show them that] they can still feel sexy and
beautiful,' she told the Huffington Post. Ms Bryce's aim was to capture Mrs
Conley's 'incredible beauty and help to tell her story to inspire others
and educate the world about breast cancer'.
Ms Bryce writes on her website: 'I am
mesmerized by her grace and beauty. Jill’s story is a second chance for
all of us. To embrace our life, family, friends, passion. 'To forget about what has happened and be excited about what is coming.' Seven models were involved in the five-day photo shoot. Mrs Conley said that she wanted the images to look sexy and intimate, but classy.
She hopes that the images and video will help other cancer patients find their sense of self-worth.
'I feel like god gave this to me for a
reason, and I'm so glad he gave it to me and not my family members or my
friends,' she told the New York Daily News.
'One day I just woke up and I was like, I can't get
mad anymore.'
