New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com28
Bathing suit: Jade Swim “Coast” top in poppy, $100 at
JadeSwim.com; Dipped in Blue “Betty Boop” bottom in cherry
bomb, $90 at DippedInBlueBikinis.com; Jewelry: Bauble Bar
“Solita” pearl hoop earrings, $48 at BaubleBar.com;
Claire’s Mixed Metal Chain Bracelets three-pack, $12.99 at
Claires.com; Shoes: Enzo Angiolini “Porice2” wedge sandals in
natural raffia, $89 at Macys.com SHE BRAVELY BEAT BACK CANCER
After Erika Stallings, a 34-year-old entertainment attorney from Harlem,
tested positive for a BRCA mutation — the breast cancer gene mutation
— she resolved to undergo a preventive double mastectomy.
Before her December 2014 operation, she says, “I never thought of my
boobs that much.” At a yearly beach share with friends in Montauk, Long
Island, she would throw on a bikini without hesitation.
But after the surgery, things were different. She spent a January 2015
holiday in St. John sitting on the sand. “I kept a T-shirt on the whole time,”
says Stallings, whose mother survived breast cancer. She says she had to
adjust to her new body in more ways than one: “The implants have a lot of
weight,” she says. “I almost fell out of bed when I first got them.”
Then summer rolled around, and with it, her annual trip to Montauk.
Even though she had treated herself to new, flattering swimsuits, she says
she still felt anxious: “Is someone going to see the scars? Will people ask
me about [them]?”
But she threw on a two-piece and faced her fears. Swimming and
playing bocce on the beach made her feel like her old self: “In a bikini, I felt
like I was turning a corner.”
Stallings has since co-founded the Young Leadership Council of the
Basser Center for BRCA, which raises money for research and provides
BRCA-related education. Despite worrying about dating after the surgery,
she is now in a long-term relationship.
She says she’s made peace with her new body. “There is a beauty and a
strength in overcoming something like this,” says Stallings. “This is not a
scar, this is a testament that I took charge of my health and changed my
destiny.”Photos by Brian
Zak/NY Post;
Hair and
makeup by
T. Cooper using
ECRU New York,
Hair Assistant
Eboné AllowaySTRONG SUIT
SHE OVERCAME A DESTRUCTIVE DISEASE
Claire Bonti was terrified the first time a doctor suggested that she
should have her inflamed colon removed and replaced with a discreet
pouch that she’d have to wear 24/7.
“No, thank you!” the now-29-year-old remembers telling the specialist.
“An ostomy bag will be social suicide.” Besides, she thought: “I’ll never
wear a bikini again.”
But then, Bonti — who had suffered from debilitating Crohn’s disease
since 13 — became gravely ill. In February 2015, the Upper East Sider
weighed just 100 pounds and was rushing to the bathroom more than 30
times a day. She decided to go through with the surgery.
Much to her surprise, the 5-foot-tall event planner and fund-raiser
found herself rocking a two-piece bathing suit just five months later, on
the Fourth of July. She says she was inspired to give it a shot after seeing a
glamorous photo on Instagram, of a bikini-clad woman with an
American-flag patterned ostomy bag front-and-center.
Bonti says her best friends also encouraged her. After that
Independence Day pool party, Bonti says she checked in with one of
them, asking: “Did anyone say anything?”
“No,” her pal responded. “One person thought you had a bandage over
a new tattoo or something.”
Since then, Bonti says, she has “internalized the mentality that if anyone
has a problem with it, it’s theirs, not mine.”
Now, with a steady boyfriend, Justin, and a senior job at the Crohn’s
& Colitis Foundation, Bonti is a true ostomy bag advocate.
“It has given me back my freedom,” she says of the device. “Wearing a
bikini was cathartic for me.”Bikini: Shoshanna Aquamarine Solid ruffle neck string bikini top,
$165, and Shoshanna Aquamarine Solid string ruffle bottom,
$110, both at Shoshanna.comFROM PAGE 27