Breast Cancer Care will be hosting its London Fashion Show in September this year, and one woman who has been battling the condition has opened up about being selected to appear in the fashion show, and how breast cancer has impacted her life as a whole.

Speaking to the Ledbury Reporter, Laura Hunter revealed that she feels “privileged” to have been chosen as one of 30 models to take part, out of more than 250 applicants. All the women selected to appear on the catwalk have had a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Laura was just 24 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and now two and a half years later she’s participating in this national event to help raise awareness of the condition.

She explained she’s lost a lot of her confidence since the diagnosis, describing how difficult it was to deal with losing all her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.

“I felt completely unfeminine and I struggled to recognise myself, especially with facing weight gain from steroids and treatment,” she revealed.

But Laura added that she hopes appearing in the fashion show can help other people going through something similar to see that “you can still feel good about yourself and you can find a new identity, however much you may miss the ‘old’ you”.

Last month, another breast cancer patient Pam Betts talked openly about her treatment for the disease, including her decision to have a double mastectomy.

In an interview with the Liverpool Echo She said she felt the biggest stigma came from a fear that “you won’t feel like yourself anymore”, but revealed that Angelina Jolie’s decision to have the procedure had led to more of her friends talking about it.

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