Pin-up model, Elly Mayday is shocking the world and changing the way women view themselves! After undergoing a hysterectomy and fighting the gruelling battle of ovarian cancer, the curvaceous model still poses for the camera with a bald head and scars showing the world that beauty really does come in all shapes and sizes.
Dubbed as the 'Curvy Canadian' with the measurements to match (34-29-44), Mayday was just about to sign with modelling agencies in New York and Los Angeles when she was diagnosed with what is known as a rare form of cancer that is usually found in post-menopausal women called Carcinoma in 2013. For the last year, Mayday has been the star model for Forever Yours Lingerie, a Canadian based company that caters for women of all sizes. They first started working together on a Valentine's shoot back in 2013
Sonya Jenkins, co-founder of Forever Yours Lingerie told ABCNews.com, "Elly is awesome and fun and bubbly and light-hearted and doesn't take anything super seriously, she is an incredibly hard worker. At the time, she was a size 14 and had a nice bust and a small waist and big, full hips and behind and we wanted to represent that look." Even though Jenkins was hesitant at first, Mayday insisted she wanted to continue modelling after finishing chemotherapy. Both unaware of how successful and inspiring the campaign would turned out to be!
Mayday told the Canadian television network CTV "I was told it was a cyst so many times, and I just knew deep down in my heart that there was something else wrong, It was kind of a point of realization, either, 'Do I stop now, or do I keep on going and be the person that I was raised to be and the person that I know I am?"
Elly continued,"In the lingerie industry, it's not something you do," she said. "It's all about long hair and big breasts and arched backs. But it's important to show what real women look like underneath their clothes. Most people have some issue that they are dealing with."
In her first shoot back from treatment, the inspiring model dyed her hair teal green for ovarian cancer awareness. First she shaved off the sides, then she was shot with her head completely bald with numerous surgical scars. Jenkins said, "We saw her completely natural body. It was bold and amazing."
Now, Mayday has nearly 74,000 followers on her Facebook page. One fan recently posted, "The irony of all this, the cancer came to bring you down, instead you just went from awesome to epic and become an even more profound model."
