Cancer | Boudoir by Anna Wu Photography
Ten years ago, I photographed K for a boudoir session, celebrating and capturing her body as it was at that time, before she planned to have children. This year she reached out to me under quite different circumstances, though her impulse to document and celebrate a changing body remains much the same. K was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. As she completed chemotherapy, she was celebrating a successful first round of treatments while also preparing for a double mastectomy and future reconstructive surgery. She wanted this portrait session to help document this body that she’s come to love and that is on the precipice of even greater changes. It was an incredible honor to create these portraits, in this intimate, raw session that combined both grief and celebration.
I also invited K to share her own thoughts on the session:
Working with Anna has been such a joy and this shoot gave me a chance to celebrate and grieve a body that will never be quite the same. I was diagnosed at my 40th birthday mammogram. The diagnosis took 8 weeks because there was no apparent urgency for what was supposed to be a baseline mammogram of a 40 year old. I look back now and realize where my knowledge was lacking and where I could have advocated harder. So I’d like to take this opportunity to share my story and encourage self care.
1) Know your breasts! Do those monthly shower exams. After my mammogram came back with concerning findings, I did a self check and the lump was so obviously palpable. Life was so busy, and I wasn’t doing self exams. I am still haunted with the “maybe” that I could have found this months earlier and what was stage 2 (arguably stage 3) cancer could have potentially been stage 1.
2) Speak up at every opportunity. Mammograms have a hard time seeing masses in very dense breasts. My first screening mammogram came back with calcifications and did not actually see the mass. After that first mammo, I felt the mass myself but I did not speak up about it. I figured – “well, the mammogram didn’t note the mass so it’s probably nothing.” This is where I wish I had spoken up sooner. If I had told my doctors there was a palpable mass along with the findings of my screening mammogram, the second diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound would have been scheduled much sooner.
3) Calculate your lifetime risk, advocate to get these mammogram screenings earlier. I know we’ve been hearing Olivia Munn advocate for this – and she’s not wrong. The standard of care is to start mammograms at 40 (although recent changes have now made that 50) or 5 years before a parent was diagnosed with breast cancer, whichever is sooner. I was 37 when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and I look back and wish I had pushed to start mammograms sooner.
Life is a beautiful thing that can also get so busy that you forget about self care. It certainly did for me, a working parent in tech with two kids – one of whom is special needs.
I am happy to report that my surgery was successful and I am healing as expected. I’m looking forward to a happier and healthier 2025.
Thank you, K, for sharing your story. Wishing you lots of love and healing as you move through these next transformations of your body.
Boudoir by Anna Wu Photography is soft, beautiful, elegant, and intimate. Together, we find that balance between vulnerability and courage in front of the camera. It is an incredibly empowering experience and a beautiful celebration of your self and your body. Contact me to inquire about a session.
