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Daughter pays tribute to ‘courageous’ cancer mom in topless photoshoot

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PHOTO: CATERS/WWW.MAGAZINEFEATURES.CO.ZA.
PHOTO: CATERS/WWW.MAGAZINEFEATURES.CO.ZA.

An Australian woman has paid tribute to her brave mom in a series of powerful images that show the realities of battling breast cancer.

Helen Sheil (76), had both of her breasts removed after being diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago but this didn’t halt the disease which has now spread to her bones.

The mom-of-three bared all her scars in a powerful series of snaps with her daughter, Nikki Lange (52), who’s helped care for her through her years of treatment.

The candid pictures, taken by photographer Tim Bradshaw, show Nikki, from Australia, looking up to her mom while in other pictures the duo are shown embracing.

"I said to Tim ‘my mum is very courageous and I’d love it if you’d agree to do a photoshoot with us,” says Nikki.

"It was very confronting. I thought we really need to highlight this and I'm not shy about putting it out there.

"I’m really feeling the imminent death of my mother.

“Doing the photo shoot was very emotional. I was so much in awe of her courage to do that and to have battled on [even though] it's been so difficult.”

Nikki, who has two children, says she was overcome with emotion when she first saw her mom after her operation.

"I'm a strong person but I remember having to run to the toilet after being overcome with nausea.

"I think going through that procedure and getting the surgery and seeing the result was very overwhelming.

"It was what she needed to do to survive," Nikki says.

Helen was diagnosed with cancer back in 1988 and initially had one of her breasts removed. She also underwent 34 rounds of radiotherapy.

A year later her cancer returned and doctor’s advised Helen to have her other breast removed as well.

Helen then went into remission for seven years but the cancer returned and has led to further rounds of radiotherapy and treatment for an open wound on her chest.

It’s now spread to her bone and Helen, who finished her latest round of radiotherapy a couple of months ago, says she’s certain the disease will kill her.

“The doctors haven’t said it will take my life but I know it will. I feel very lucky to have lived this long,” says Helen.

Helen, who worked as an announcer, said she had no worries about doing the shoot.

"I know Nikki is very creative – I trusted her and the photographer. I knew what they were doing and it made me feel okay. I thought it might help somebody else.

"I felt like Nikki's body was beautiful and mine wasn’t but I've had this so long that I've learned to live with it.

"I did think it was a powerful photograph and the photographer did a great job,” she says.

 Source: Magazine Features

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