Krista "Chapter 1 - Hope"

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDY BACON

"Strip away all those things that you believe define you."

"Or, maybe not define you entirely, but rather identify you. Strip away those things that you believe characterize you--the good qualities that you are prideful of. Maybe you are not vocally prideful of these things, but you are subconsciously--if you are true to your subconscious. Strip those things away and pause to reflect. What makes you…well, you? The one in seven billion, you. What makes you, that?

If it is not your health, your hair, your breasts, your musculature, your energy, your intelligence, your job, or your family involvement. If it is not those things about you that you believed were a factor in setting your worth, or those things that made you smile. If it is not those things, then strive to figure out what makes you… a one in seven billion, you."

"Eight months ago, in front of my kids' elementary school just before I went inside to get them, I listened to my doctor’s voice over the phone tell me, “Krista, you have extensive, invasive ductile carcinoma. You need to see a surgeon tomorrow who specializes in breast cancer.” At that moment, those things that I believed were me, those things that made me smile… Those things began being peeled away. Layer-by-layer, I was stripped.

Layer. By. Layer.

I was stripped until what was left was void of superficial distraction. And then I began healing. Rebuilding. And learning what makes me, me.

This is my story of a rebirth. It is a story of hope."