Spotlight on the Bodycast: Katherine

Katherine, 2024

Plaster, Faux Flowers, Zip, Faux Butterfly

I wanted to be able to capture both the physical size of the impact surgery has had on my body, and also the amazing outcome. The 3 pieces cover

Where my lymph nodes were removed from my left armpit,
My left new “breast” and the area that was physically opened up, skin and flesh lifted, repositioned and reshaped during the reconstruction including my new belly-button hole, absence of nipple and the slightly protruding skin formations at either end of my abdominal scar. This doesn’t show the impact on the right hand side of my abdomen, where they gently teased apart my stomach muscles to harvest an artery and vein that were then “plumbed back in” to my chest to ensure the transplanted tissue retained its blood supply, and was able to continue to live and grow as part of me.
My “normal” right breast complete with nipple, as comparison. Helping to show the fantastic result.

People are taken aback when they see the vast area that was affected. While I’ve healed beautifully it’s far larger than people anticipate, so I thought it important to capture it. People seem to expect you to heal very quickly both physically and mentally from things like this. Ignoring the impact such a long general anaesthetic had, I only got the all clear from the plastic surgeon to go back to any activity I wanted after 3 months (planks at the gym, skiing etc), but it took me 12 months to recover almost full use of my left shoulder, and 18 months to regain the maximum possible amount of nerve growth or feeling in the impacted area…

The butterfly apparently symbolises successfully beating cancer, and is carefully placed over the new piece of skin I have to replace where my nipple and surrounding area was removed. The 3 flowers are used to show the new location of my belly button, and the two slightly protruding skin formations; making them look attractive rather than scary. I found being in nature had a very positive impact on me and my healing, hence choosing these items for the piece.

The gold paint that is visible inside the clean white zip reflects the different skin colour, texture and appearance of the scar. It’s not ugly, just different.

I also wanted to show how amazing the reconstruction is; there is very little difference between my left (new) and right breasts. I can wear and feel comfortable in anything, from tight tops to narrow stripes, which is not always the case after such an operation. Choosing this surgical reconstruction option was my one stop, natural shop. Having had things cut out of me that weren’t supposed to be there, I couldn’t face the prospect of having man made implants that need replacing every 8-15 years inserted. The final outcome empowers my journey forwards, to coin a phrase, without the repeated reminders of cancer and the impact it has had.