by Marissa Holzer, Stand Tall AFC Ambassador in Ventura
The going flat movement offers a fresh take on Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) 2022 through Stand Tall AFC! I am proud to be an ambassador for this body positive campaign and unite women with less than two breasts to be visible at public BCAM events. My team will be walking at the Making Strides of Greater Ventura County walk in Ventura Harbor on October 8. Our teams wear shirts with an emblem of the flat movement.
When faced with mastectomy, I rejected the idea that people would see my one-breasted self as shameful, ugly, “not finished” with treatment, or less feminine. I am none of those. In fact, I feel proud, smokin’ hot, and whole” stated walker Dr. Wendy Sage of The Simpsons
Like Dr. Sage, my teammates and I will be normalizing AFC, embracing survivorship and Takin’ FLAT to the Streets! For many people at Pinktober BCAM events, walking alongside a Stand Tall AFC team might be their first time seeing someone openly flat after mastectomy.
“Visibility makes the choice to go flat real and available to folks in a concrete way that empowers them to make the best choice for themselves’ said patient advocate Kimberly Bowles, who worked with the National Cancer Institute to define AFC in 2020.
Stand Tall AFC teams are currently in over 40 cities across the U.S. and Europe with over 400 breast cancer sisters and brothers, family, and friends uniting to empower others and celebrate body positivity!
