A big part of what breast cancer took away from Ray Janeen Stevens for so many years, the Beau Institute of Permanent and Corrective Cosmetics was able to give back to her within one visit.
“It made me feel like a woman again,” Stevens, 50, of Burlington, New Jersey, says of the 3D areola tattoo procedure she had about a year ago on both of her reconstructed breasts.
Even over the phone, Stevens’ bright light shines through. Her voice reminds you that there is good all around. Sharing her story is her way to inspire other breast cancer survivors, and to remind the world that the fight doesn’t stop when you ring the bell after your last treatment.
“When you have cancer, you have something to fight,” says Stevens. “Then you get to ring the bell. After you ring the bell, then what? You go home.”
For five years, between her initial diagnosis and when she first heard about the Beau Institute, Stevens dealt with a loss beyond the physical. “I didn’t feel attractive,” she says. “No one talks about that part.”