When she was 17 years old, Pamina Brassey turned down a Playboy recruiter who wanted her to pose for the magazine. Then, at age 49, she made arrangements to be photographed in the nude after undergoing a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. “The difference is that now I have something to say,” she explained. What do you think of Brassey's post-surgery image?
What do you think of breast-cancer survivor's post-surgery photo?
Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:54 PM EDT
Leave a Comment:
Saving...
There are a lot of men out here who have an understanding of breast cancer, myself included, somewhere around the kindergarten level. What I have learned from my better half is that breast examinations either self or by partner are essential and MANDATORY. When suspicious or in doubt, get to the doctor immediately. Men need to be taught more on the subject as well as how to be more supportive and sensitive to your partners needs, fears, and post support if surgery was required.
As for her photo, SMART WOMAN! Sorry for the surgery but you still have your soul, your dreams, your desires, and most of all - your respect and dignity. very nice picture, mature and tasteful. Hope it opened the eyes and minds of a few thousand. Wish you the best and Thank You!
God Bless you! You are so brave. I admire you for sharing and letting us know that, even though you have been through a great deal with your cancer, you are still as beautiful as ever. I wish you well.
Kudos for showing the pictures. I had a bilateral mastectomy last Oct and took pictures at every stage so I would remember and be able to share with my daughters and others who asked, but I don't know that I could go completely public with them. I applaud her bravery and courage in allowing everyone to see her pictures.
And, I second the line of thought that if you feel something is wrong, get a second, or third or fourth opinion. You know your body better than anyone else and it just might save your life.
Nice looking Woman ! Thanks for the Look ;)
I think she is courageous, but more importantly, extremely generous putting herself out there for all to see. It is important for others to see that cancer is painful, difficult, life altering, but not insurmountable. She has elevated her scars to battle scars, noble reminders of triumph against adversity!
I think it's ugly. Hideous in fact. All the polite words and the denial and the pretending do not change how ugly it really is. She is horribly scarred and mutilated. Women are supposed to have two breasts, not one breast and one repulsive, permanently implanted prosthesis which is completely numb and has no nipple. Yes folks, completely numb. Most people don't realize that breast 'reconstruction' is only a lump under your skin with no feeling and you will always look hideous naked. I know, because I had breast cancer and reconstructive surgery. Once I found out how disgusting it was, I never looked at or touched either of my 'breasts' ever again. No point. Had the oncology surgeon told me the truth about what he meant when he said it could be 'fixed', I'd have let cancer kill me. Yes, breasts are that important. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or lives alone in a cave and has no eyes to see breasts or hands to feel them. It's a horrible disease and having a victim pose nude out of pity does not change that fact.
I am a man and enjoy the sight of beautiful breasts as much as any man, but when all is said and done they are little more than two lumps of fat. My baby sister is suffering from untreated breast cancer. Apparently her breasts are more important to her and her husband than her life. What utter stupidy! No person should be reduced to two lumps of fat. I love my wife's breasts but would sacrifice them in a instant to save the rest of her, and any man who wouldn't is not in love. Any woman who thinks boobs are more important than she is, is just a big boob.
i am sorry that you had to go through cancer and reconstruction. i'm even more sorry that you tie the beauty within you as a woman and person to your breasts. it is a horrible disease but you're alive. you survived. breasts do not make you who you are. i have horrific scars from an vertical incision abdominal hysterectomy that subsequently opened and i lived with an open wound from my belly button down to my pubic bone for 1 year until it healed (i'm diabetic). the remaining scar is hideous but it does not define who i am.
It's wonderful to hear from these men. I loved their comments. I can't believe that a women would rather die than have these two lumps of fat removed that are really only there to feed babies. They ought to be grateful that the cancer was found and was treated. Thank you to the woman that posed.
redblues- im so sorry you think your only self worth is in your sexual attractiveness and the only thing attractive about you was your breasts. What a sad life to rather die than be unattractive you need professional help. External beauty is fleeting, beauty of spirit is forever and this lady has it in spades.
It's easy for someone who hasn't been there to talk down to someone who has. And I never said that I thought my only self-worth was sexual attractiveness, because frankly, I never felt attractive to begin with. But life as a mutilated freak is not worth having, and I would not be in this position if any of my doctors had had the balls to tell me the truth before they destroyed me. Five years of therapy have done nothing. Fifty years of therapy would not make my breasts grow back. So it's pretty much useless. External beauty isn't THAT 'fleeting'. No-one I know has suddenly become this ugly. They all have THEIR breasts, five years later. And breasts are not 'fleeting'. They're supposed to be there until you die.
OK, I'm a guy and I don't know what it is like to lose your breasts. Yes, I am a "boob" man, so I enjoy a curvey woman. My wife is well endowed. Ok, that behind me, I will say you are entirely entitled to your opinions and feelings, though I feel very sad reading them. I am reading that you have a lot of fear and hate and resentment in you and no 15 minutes on a forum is going to change that. You were handed a red herring and it stinks. But you decide where you go from here. Sounds like you have your anger as a comfortable suit of armor to keep from feeling good about yourself or the world ever again. Sounds like major depression has settled in home. I think you should talk it over with your oncologist because I bet millions of women feel the resentment you feel, but they learn to live through it. Not get rid of it or trivilize it - no pink fluffy feelings about it. Talk to other breast cancer survivors and they are grateful for life, grateful to fight their cancer, grateful not to lose to it. And they can stand up to a lot of this world too. Your breasts are not growing back. But your self-esteem can. Sounds like you need to punch out at something, put that anger on something. Well, do it then. Find a cause and fight for it. Find something else that stirs your passion and give it a go. Wallowing in anger mixed with sadness is like a tar pit - slowly sucks you down. Stand up on your feet, get mad at insensitive jerks like me and take a bite out of life. There - sounds a little better? Don't like your therapist? Get a new one. Find a support group for other survivors. Vent to them and get ticked off and they will understand. But don't crawl into yourself. Resentment like jealously is a slow poison. We can all sympathize with you, we can try and trick you with tough love, but it is ultimately up to you to do something. If you don't have a positive motivation to get moving, get a negative one. What DON'T you want out of life? Make your own path, sing your own song, get a new direction you like. And I love to applaud personal momentum. Give me a reason. Or not. Your choice. But remember - you posted here. I'm just a lurker. Have a great day from now on - because you deserve it.
This is a very brave lady,one that took a stand and is living by her convictions....it's a testament to what is happening to many women in the world,breast cancer. Women worry and fret over possible loss of a breast and some succumb to the cancer,this lady made a valiant choice and overcome her afliction,her awareness made it possible to pass on a positive inspiration to all the women that have fears over if they will be doing the right thing,yes there are the scars but with the implant so doesn't need to feel like an outcast in our society because she has no breasts,instead she has confirmed my views that women are stepping up and telling the world...I had cancer,I handled ther trama of losing my breast or breasts,I survived the surgery and loss,and now with the help on cosmetic surgery I can still look like other women,be able to be a spokeswoman for breast cancer,and still have dignity and pride in my sexuality...she is truly a woman to be recconded with... thank you for such a positive testimony to such a terrible disease
Good for her. Cancer is a terrible thing. I had a friend at a nudist club who got breast cancer and went through surgery. There couldn't have been a more supportive and accepting environment. At a nudist club, realistically, we see that a lot of people go through a lot of physical trauma. And they are loved and accepted anyway. That our society has all these problems with accepting bodies in the first place is a problem.
The photo is stunningly beautiful, and shows a woman of character, poise, courage and grace!
She is an incredibly brave woman, and I'm proud of her! (I don't know her, but I'm still proud of her!) What she did must have been a difficult decision. However, her photos have provided an incentive for other women to be tested, and that can only be for the good.
My experience is slightly different in that I waited and waited for the results for the biopsies, and they turned out to be benign. Having gone through all those feelings of what will happen if I did have cancer is also incredibly scary.
Congratulations, Pamina, for being a brave soul who wants to help others. You have.
This woman as well as many of the comments here, are bringing tears to my eyes. I once dated someone that told me he would leave me if I lost a breast or a limb, or was scarred in anyway, and I left him. One of the things I have learned in this life is that beauty does indeed fade, but that love can last forever.
Bravo to Pamina, and I pray that she lives a long, wonderful life!
I think that the photo is beautiful and that she should be proud of herself for having the courage to pose nude---I know that I wouldn't!! But, the most important thing is that she survived.
The photo shows what courage looks like. It is beautiful. Thank you.
I do think the woman was brave for having her picture published. I do feel she is very beautiful. I am facing a double mastectomy with reconstruction in November. It is comforting to see how beautiful she is. I feel a little better after seeing her. It has been very stressful and is very hard waiting for the day. I know I will miss my breasts, they are so sensitive, and that sensitivity will be no more, but I am glad to know I will live and now I know what I have to look forward to.