The Powerful Reason This Breast Cancer Survivor Is Putting Her Mastectomy Scars on Full Display

If there’s one word to describe Dominique Mitchell, it’s survivor. Before she survived breast cancer, she survived sexual assault. Although she overcame each experience differently, one thing didn’t change: her refusal to give up.

As a single mother, Mitchell’s battle with cancer was about more than just herself; it was about her two children, too. Sure, some moments were harder than others. But she knew she had to be strong, even when she couldn't get her self-esteem "off the floor," as she put it.

“Some days I take 100 pictures because I looked abnormal in 99 of them. Sometimes I make different body movements and facial expression in the mirror because I don’t want to look ugly in the real world,” Mitchell wrote in an Instagram post on the page @yourunlikeagirl alongside a photo showing her mastectomy scars.

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Hi, my name is Domonique, but I go by Dom. Where do I start? I am a single mother, and I was a survivor of sexual assault before I ever survived cancer. Picture yourself not looking at your own naked body for a whole 24 hours, because the sight of what was done to you makes you tear up. Somedays I take 100 pictures because I looked abnormal in 99 of them. Sometimes I make different body movements and facial expression in the mirror because I don’t want to look ugly in the real world. But when you look through my pictures you see that I am together, and my makeup is perfect. BUT I don’t post about the days that I don’t take pictures, because on those days I couldn’t get my esteem off the floor. Sometimes I fight with my man because I feel that he deserves a woman that looks normal, and I can’t believe he’s with me. Today, I said fuck all that. Today, I said I am just as great as any woman I cross paths with. Today, I embraced my scars and embraced the stares of those who don’t understand. Today I was “Survivor As Fuck.” And I am going to do everything in my power to embrace every scar, out loud, everyday. And it’s not to be sexy for anyone, it’s because I have to be okay with being unapologetically me, and I cannot do that subtly. When I started my blog, I began opening up to complete strangers about my heartbreaks and transgressions, then I shared it to my personal circle. I honestly feel like I was dead before I was honest with myself. Sure, I was alive, but I was in auto-pilot, existing. Now I am living. My goal is to let my lifestyle be something to help other women who are struggling to overcome the impossible to see that nothing is final as long as you are breathing. I have been through so much, and I truly believe that my purpose is to speak for those who haven’t spoken. My role of being a woman held me back when I was unaware of my feminine power. I had to find myself. Now that I found me, and the fire has been ignited, there is no stopping me. You are not alone. It doesn’t matter how bad or awful you think you are, it doesn’t matter what anyone says to you, there is someone out there who needed to hear YOUR side. So don’t stop.

A post shared by Nadia Addesi (@yourunlikeagirl) on Feb 13, 2018 at 2:49pm PST

It’s not always easy to be strong, but Mitchell knows she has what it takes. “Today, I said I am just as great as any woman I cross paths with. Today, I embraced my scars and embraced the stares of those who don’t understand.”

She's made a promise to herself to embrace womanhood without breasts, and she has a powerful reason behind the promise: “I am going to do everything in my power to embrace every scar, out loud, every day. And it’s not to be sexy for anyone, it’s because I have to be okay with being unapologetically me, and I cannot do that subtly.”

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Mitchell reminds us that being a woman is so much more than what our bodies look like or how we dress. It should be about lifting each other up, and that’s exactly what she plans to do. She’s made it her goal to help other women who are struggling to overcome the “impossible” and to show them they can accomplish absolutely anything.

“My role of being a woman held me back when I was unaware of my feminine power,” she wrote. “I had to find myself. Now that I found me, and the fire has been ignited, there is no stopping me.”

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