This wasn’t about appearance. It was about survival
A simple phone call in May of 2014 is all it took to shake my world. The doctor on the other end of the phone told me that I had cancer. The phone fell from my hand and hit the floor. It was not just cancer, but Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Nasal Cavity. I just found out that I had cancer in the center of my face. In my mind, I had just received an expiration date on my life. I did research and talked to my doctors about my options. Some of which would take away the quality of my life.
Then in November of 2014, my world would forever change as I endured my final surgery for the complete removal of my nose. A full rhinectomy. I was what would be called by disfigured by most in the world, but for me it was a new lease on life. My appearance was changed forever, I had to make the decision on how I was going to live my life and each day I continue to make continue to make that decision.
After healing from my surgery, I was given a prosthetic (fake) nose, and I wore it for 2 years, but it was not who I was. I felt claustrophobic in it and felt like I could not breathe, not physically, but mentally. I decided to go without the prosthetic and deal with life without a nose. People would stare, people would point, people would talk and people would even ask questions. My goal was to show them that being different was ok and that I was just a normal person, just like them.
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Beautiful broken. No matter what, I'm going to still fight and show up. #fightlikeabetty #mentalhealthmatters #bipolarbetty #beautifullybroken #nosefreeandliving
Radical Self Acceptance
In a world that tries to tell us what beauty is and tries to make us fit into a box that society wants us to fit into, I am here to show that beauty is more than what the world thinks. On TiKTok, when I first joined, I was seeing a lot of videos about body positivity and accepting our flaws as part of who we are. I expanded on that thought, for me it’s what I call Radical Self Acceptance. I fell in love with my face once I saw myself for the first time after surgery.
I have come to accept who I am and that I am beautiful, though some in this world don’t see me as such. I am here to break the stereotype, and I will continue to present myself to the world and show people that no matter what others think, you and I are just as beautiful as anyone else. I love when people tell me how beautiful I am, even without a nose.
I remember when someone told me, that only I could get prettier by having my nose removed. It was not a decision I made lightly, but it was what I needed to do to survive cancer.
