KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's almost time for Vicki Spain and Melinda Hopkins to take the stage for The Greater Kansas City Nurses Association's 'Women Encouraging Women' fashion show on Saturday, Sept. 30.
They're getting their outfits ready at 79 Roze, a dress shop with a mission to empower women to embrace their curves.
"We're all about body inclusivity and body positivity," 79 Roze owner LaToya Rozof said.
"They're all so fabulous," Vicki Spain said about her outfits. "And I like being fabulous!"
Although Spain and Hopkins are dressed in different styles, these women share a similar story: They're both breast cancer survivors.
Spain said when she had her original mammogram in July last year, it came up negative.
"In August, I felt a lump," Spain said. "I called my primary doctor, they set up a new mammogram, ultrasound, that sort of thing and it was, it was cancer. It was rapidly growing, so it was stage 3C, which right above stage 4."
Hopkins was diagnosed in 2011, right after she gave birth to her son.
"It was an aggressive cancer," Hopkins said. "I had mono-triple negative third stage breast cancer, which grew from a size of a golf ball to a tennis ball over the heart within two weeks."
Both women went through radiation and chemotherapy.
"Chemo's no joke," Spain said. "It took me down. I've had to be hospitalized, I've had a blood transfusion. It gave me diabetes because of the steroids in it."
Hopkins said she had a double mastectomy, a tummy tuck and a skin graph.
"With the tummy tuck, they took the fat from my stomach to try and form a stomach, but my body rejected my own fat so they had to immediately take it out because my blood count dropped," she said.
It's the fight Spain and Hopkins are bringing awareness to, by walking the runway with eight other survivors.
"When you think about these women, where their bodies have went through a lot of changes and they have to learn and accept the new change, whether it's a scar from chemo, weight gain or different things," Rozof said. "And they're loving their bodies just as they are, they're not trying to fit some arbitrary standard."
"These are beautiful women, very beautiful women," Doris Grant, a fashion show organizer and retired nurse, said. "And that they're celebrating their life."
Celebration and strength are things Spain says she can do because of her support system.
"It wasn't what I expected," Spain said. "Your family yes, but friends, who just stepped in and were there with me, sat with me when I needed someone to sit with me. They've been there, and I just thank them."
Yes, these women are survivors of breast cancer, but they are so much more than that.
"I'm an overcomer," Spain said.
Hopkins says she is fierce.
"Yes we all have scars, but our scars help to tell our story," Hopkins said. "Our scars say, 'Hey we were in a battle, we won the fight, so can you.'"
The fashion show will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30. at Grace Baptist Church, which is located at 8524 Blue Ridge Blvd. in Kansas City, Missouri.
The event is free and mammograms will be offered to all women at no cost, including for the uninsured or underinsured.
For those interested in a mammogram, you can email msdoris0471@gmail.com with your name, date of birth, last mammogram and insurance — if available.
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