Looking for some #MondayMotivation? Good, because this story of defeating cancer and breaking down stigmas around bodies that aren’t “normal” is going to pump you up! In fact, this story will make your heart sing any day of the week.
Meet Mama Cax, a 27-year-old beauty blogger and world traveler born in New York, and raised between Montreal and Haiti.
She has seriously amazing style, which is displayed on her blog and Instagram. Each look she uploads is something we long to have hanging in our closet. Like, a blush pink suit? Where do we find this piece of heaven?
And her handbag collection is so on point:
But Cax isn’t your average fashion and beauty blogger.
At 14, she received a devastating diagnosis: bone and lung cancer had infiltrated her body. Doctors gave her three weeks to live. But Cax fought, she persevered, and beat the odds. Cax survived. But her right leg had to be amputated.
Now, she wears a prosthetic and walks with forearm crutches. And, as you probably guessed, she does it with the utmost of confidence, her impeccable style shining through her artificial limb in all kinds of powerful ways.
But it’s not all praise and beautiful photography. On her blog, Cax talks about her real-life struggles overcoming the stigmas:
“I’ve made it my personal mission to infiltrate the ‘beauty industry’,” she writes. “Walking down the street with crutches and a prosthetic leg, people often shout ‘you go girl! you’re still beautiful’ STILL?…. I AM beautiful and I’m here to show you how beautiful I am inside and out.”
Awesome fashion sense and beautifully curated Instagram account aside, it’s the conversation that Cax is starting that’s truly valuable. This young woman is challenging beauty standards and, in doing so, inspiring women with prosthetics from around the globe (she’s dubbed these women “bionic divas”), to love their bodies.
She’s is doing a whole lot of travelling, too, having ticked off over 20 countries from her list. We’re just going to put this out there: Cax, we think you’d love Canada. Just don’t forget to pack your parka.