You don't know me at all. Maybe, at the beginning of the Scar Project, you saw my picture. Maybe, you stared into my eyes on the screen as I have stared into yours. Maybe, in the inhales in front of the camera, our breaths breathed the same recirculating air and our stories touched each for a moment.
I've watched you through David's lens. I've watched your strength turn to courage, your hope turn to defiance, your passion intenisfy as your cells careened out of control. I've watched your sisters blog about you and your last moments. Blog posts so infused with love that I could feel them holding you and you holding them.
You left us too soon. I never got to meet you in the flesh, I wish I had so that I could thank you enough for all that you have done.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. You embody hope. You show us that beating cancer isn't just about living longer, it's about living sincerely, and I thank you.
Thank you to your family. Their gift to me and others like me when they shared your story can never truly be repaid.
Good bye. You will so be missed.
Love and light, Amanda
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Images used with gracious permission of
David Jay at The Scar Project
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Dear David,
I don't know if you remember me either. My shot didn't make the final cut, but you gave me something intangible.
Before the Scar Project, most of society couldn't look at us and see defiance and beauty. I don't think I did before I came to see you. I think I bought into being maimed. I think I bought into being less than feminine for making a choice that I thought would save me.
Really, your photos saved me. They made it so that I could be a person, a sister, and a woman, all feirceness and scars. When I sat for you, I wanted the daisies. They made me feel feminine. The photo you took reminded me that as a woman I am beyond what I think I am. It's like you reached into me and pulled me out from where I lay hidden.
When you posted it, each comment from each stranger, was a nail in the coffin of my self doubt and my fear of who I was to become. Even though, they were removed long ago, each electronic word is written deep inside me.
Thank you, much love and respect,
Amanda
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| Thank you. |
Facebook:
I am tired of you CENSORING my sisters because they have nipples and I do not. I am tired of you blocking an art project that finds hope in defiance and beauty in scars.
You said you weren't going to do this anymore. You worded it though in a half truth way. Apparently mastectomy scars are OK, but god forbid, anyone should see a nipple.
I could handle it when you took down my photo, but taking down Vanessa's memorial was uncalled for. You took away the messages left in love for her family, and even though you put them back, you CAUSED distress that you cannot FIX.
Listen to us. LISTEN to me. Those pictures are the story of women like me: women diagnosed young and strong, battling an illness that no one can see, telling a story few know, and baring it all so that others like them DO NOT SUFFER IN SILENCE.
Please stop it, David, the rest of the scar girls, and the rest of the people these photos resonate with do not need this any more.
Respectfully,
Amanda
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