Allyn Rose, The 24-year-old Miss America contestant out of Washington, D.C told People magazine that she has elected to have a double mastectomy. Rose has said that she is predisposed to developing breast cancer, the same disease that took her mothers life at a young age and has affected most of the women in her family as well.
“My mom had her right breast removed at 27, but at 47 or 48, it came back in her left breast,” she says. “It was already stage three. She could have had that other breast removed, but I’m sure there was a part of her that thought she didn’t want to give up this other part of herself.”
Rose has said that her father begged her mother to have her other breast removed, but could not convince her to do so. Being a mother herself, Rose has elected to not take any chances and wants to be there for her kids, knowing how much of her own life her mother missed out on.
“I had to become my own mentor. I had to go pick out my prom dress by myself. I had to go to my high school graduation without my mom,” she said. “She didn’t see me go off to college or go on my first date or drive a car for the first time.”
Many doctors that she consulted with said they were reluctant to operate since she was so young and has shown no signs of cancer just yet, but Rose decided it was not worth the risk and wants to have the surgery.
“Your skin may be damaged in a way that you will lose your nipple, or sometimes women lose all of their breast tissue,” she said. “Breasts don’t define your life. I’m choosing life over beauty. I’m choosing to remove something that’s so iconic to my womanhood.”
The news comes just weeks after reality television celebrity Sharon Osbourne revealed her double mastectomy.
