Having lost a breast to cancer, I have taken a step towards something new —
and I won the grand prix at the qualifying round of a proportion contest.

I used to be called a diet killer, so hung up was I about my looks. Then I came across Diana’s methods, and this is my fourth year with the figure I wanted. No rebound — and I had decided I would enter the contest.


When I entered I still had both breasts, and I had been working daily towards the balance they call a golden body.

Three months ago, breast cancer surgery changed that balance completely.

But what I held on to throughout was hope, and facing forwards.

Golden proportion, though, means bust, waist and hips in balance front to back and top to bottom.

With a breast gone, that balance broke, and I agonised over whether to enter a beauty proportion contest at all. I lost my confidence.

The changes in my body after surgery, the loss of confidence, and the prejudice and misunderstanding out there — all of it felt as though it were trying to flatten me. I was caught on the part of my body that was gone, and I let myself see honestly that underneath I was sad.

Cancer had not made me cry, nor had losing something to surgery — but when they announced the grand prix, what rose in my chest made me cry for the first time.
Perhaps they were tears of gladness, overflowing with gratitude for all of it.

Entering the proportion contest is not one person’s challenge, and it is not simply a competition about looks. I was taught that it is a place to come through breast cancer, rediscover your own beauty, and hand courage and hope to other people.

The friends who started this with me entered too. Standing on that stage with me was what they had set as their goal.

This was only the qualifier. The regional round and then the national final are still ahead.

Through their Flower Jenne project, Diana provided free of charge the pocket in the underwear for a breast lost to cancer; with a silicone pad in it, nothing looks amiss and it is comfortable.

Losing the breast changed my measurements, so for the national final I have to take another four centimetres off my waist.

Working on it daily. The final is on 7 September, at Yokohama Arena.
I have promised myself I will stand there.

Winning the qualifying grand prix feels like being handed new hope.

Entering the contest is proof that I faced the ordeal of breast cancer and came through it, and I believe that through this contest I can give courage and hope to women struggling with the same thing.

To everyone facing breast cancer: may my story give you a little strength, and mark the road towards a brighter future.

The support everyone has given this challenge of mine has been my greatest prop.
Thank you, from the heart, for walking on with me.

With hope and with courage, let’s go forward.