Building up the confidence to be able to wear mastectomy swimwear after an operation is a tough road, but one that when you conquer will feel so empowering.

As October is breast cancer awareness month, alongside the reminders of those loved ones we’ve lost, we’re sure to be inspired by so many survivor stories where women have overcome the disease and learned to love their new bodies.

Here’s one such story from the Metro – 50 year old Maggie Prentice, who was told 10 years ago that she only had a 10 per cent chance of surviving her ‘incurable’ cancer diagnosis, posing for a lingerie shoot alongside fellow survivors.

The shoot was for a lingerie brand down in New Zealand where Maggie lives, put together by an organisation which aims to improve the quality of life of those who live with and have survived the disease.

Maggie looks great, but just because somewhere is brave enough to go through with a lingerie shoot doesn’t mean they don’t have body confidence issues.

“It was something I felt uncomfortable about as I was heavier than ever and having had a mastectomy and everything, but it was something that I just wanted to do for me,” Maggie told the Daily Mail Australia.

Maggie diagnosis came after she found her breasts were misshapen while showering – something she hadn’t noticed before. Two months after this first visit to the doctors, Maggie was told her cancer was incurable – something made all the worse by the fact that her husband was diagnosed with cancer at the same time.

But Maggie is still going strong, and her husband has just been discharged from oncology with no further treatment required.