“Being brave isn’t about the absence of fear; it’s about taking action despite feeling scared.”
Ten years ago, I walked out of the hospital after receiving my very last Herceptin treatment. It was a milestone that marked the end of a chapter that had tested my everything. More than a year of treatment – week after week, cycle after cycle – each visit a reminder of the battle I was in, and the uncertainty of what lay ahead.
Looking back at a photo from that time, I don’t just see me fighting cancer. I see myself as scared, exhausted, and overwhelmed. I also see someone who kept on going.
And that’s what bravery is all about.
Not the big, movie-style moments of triumph, but the small, determined acts of persistence: turning up to appointments. Holding your breath through test results. Facing surgery. Losing your hair. Telling your family. Grieving the version of your life that once was, and daring to imagine what the new version could be.
That quiet courage is what defines So Brave. Over the past decade, I’ve had the honour of meeting and hearing the stories of hundreds of young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Each story is different, yet the thread of resilience runs through them all. Diagnosed in their 20s and 30s, sometimes with young children, new careers, or just starting life’s next chapter – these women face a reality many don’t even think about at that age.
And still, they keep showing up. I am in awe of their persisting bravery.
So Brave was created not just out of my own experience, but out of a deep recognition that young women with breast cancer face unique challenges: delayed diagnoses, lack of age-appropriate support, and being overlooked in mainstream awareness campaigns. Our mission has always been to support these women, to raise awareness that young women can and do get breast cancer, and to advocate for the changes needed to improve outcomes.
As I reflect on these ten years, what moves me most is not just the fight against cancer, but the fight for dignity, recognition, and understanding.
It’s the young woman who finishes chemo and still shows up for school drop-off with a smile.
It’s the 29-year-old who gets a mastectomy and goes on to advocate for others like her.
It’s every So Brave Model Ambassador who has ever been photographed or bodypainted, who stood powerfully and vulnerably to say, “This is what young breast cancer looks like.”
Bravery is not the absence of fear. It’s choosing to move forward despite it.
If you are reading this and you’re in the thick of your own journey, or standing beside someone who is, know this: your fear is valid, but it does not define you. Your courage – the quiet kind, the everyday kind – does.
So Brave is here because of you. For you…and with you.
And as we mark a decade of supporting young women through the hardest moments of their lives, we’re recommitting ourselves to being the voice, the hand, and the strength beside every young woman diagnosed.
Because, we are all so brave.
Thank you for being part of the mission for support, awareness and change,
Rachelle