Esther Fernández Valbuena is operated on breast cancer. 22 years ago she underwent surgery on one breast and more than a decade ago on the other. Her beginnings are always hard, “as much as you want to get ahead, there is no doubt that you feel injured,” she confesses. But yesterday, as she has done on previous occasions, she left behind all her fears to get on the catwalk. She was one of the models that participated in the swimwear and lingerie parade organized by the Leonese Association of Women Operated on for Breast Cancer (Almom) at El Corte Inglés de León, an event recovered after two years of hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
For her it means “a empowerment of the operated woman” and believes that parading “makes you fill yourself with strength”. “You have to have courage,” she says. But the activity is “a party” for all the participants and also for the association, which serves between 180 and 200 women operated on breast cancer in León through different programs.
The parade, in which the latest trends in lingerie, swimwear and a multitude of accessories could be seen thanks to the collaboration of Amoena and The English Courtwas also a meeting in which to share experiences between women who have gone through or are going through the same experience and a way of giving visibility and normality to their situation.
“This is a way of feeling supported,” recalls Esther Fernández, proud of her participation in the parade and to put aside all the complexes to get on the catwalk. “Women operated on for cancer are not alone,” she celebrated. She has been collaborating for years with the association, which she considers “my second home” and “a space of liberation” in which she can talk openly about her illness and how she feels.
On the catwalk operated women wore swimwear and lingerie, some of which have been reconstructed or have an implant to minimize the effects of the intervention. Medicine “has come a long way” in this field, celebrates the vice president of Almom, Tere González Robles. From the association they try to make this situation visible and normalize it “for society like any other type of disease,” she recalls.
They also try to “encourage women who are currently going through it”, with activities like the one they organized yesterday, a fashion show in which they put aside any type of objection or complex to proudly show off their body and strength with which to move on.
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