Elly Mayday was diagnosed with serous carcinoma last year and despite losing her hair and undergoing a hysterectomy, she is determined to continue modelling.
Serous carcinoma is a rare type of cancer that usually occurs in post-menopausal women but Elly is only 25.
‘I was told it was a cyst so many times, and I just knew deep down in my heart that there was something else wrong,’ she told the Canadian television network CTV.
‘In the lingerie industry, it’s not something you do,’ Elly who has since lost 40lbs from chemotherapy, told ABC News. ‘It’s all about long hair and big breasts and arched backs. But it’s important to show what real women look like underneath their clothes.’
Brave Elly pictured modelling for Forever Lingerie after undergoing surgery and treatment
Elly was planning to move to New York from Vancouver to further her modelling dream when she was diagnosed, ‘It was kind of a point of realization, either, ‘Do I stop [modeling] now, or do I keep on going and be the person that I was raised to be and the person that I know I am?’
Forever Yours Lingerie sells underwear for women of all sizes and began working with Elly last year.
After Elly’s surgery and chemotherapy Sonya Jenkins, co-founder of Forever Yours Lingerie agreed to photograph her with no hair for the company’s latest campaign.
The brave model has almost 80,000 fans on her official Facebook page, Elly is just over her third operation with another round of chemotherapy to follow.
‘You will never know just how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have’, the Canadian native wrote on her Facebook page yesterday.
Images courtesy of Forever Lingerie
