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Magali discovered her first breast lump in 2002 while performing a self-exam. At first, the news was devastating. "I felt like my world had collapsed; I cried day and night," she says. She needed surgery to remove the lump—the first of six over ten years. She wasn't alone in her fight against the disease: her mother and sister also had breast cancer.
The strength to face cancer came from faith and talent. To pass the time and ward off loneliness, Magali began painting the furniture in her home and discovered she was an artisan. By the time she finished treatment for the first lump, she had already renovated her entire house. And she didn't stop there. She took courses in newspaper basket weaving, crochet, eggshell mosaics... In 2007, she founded the Mulher Reciclando Project, where volunteers offer classes in craft techniques to women in the Malvina community in Macaé, RJ.
In 2012, upon being diagnosed with a sixth lump, doctors recommended a more radical solution: a double mastectomy. If this decision was controversial even for Hollywood actress Angelina Joliein 2015, how was it for artisan Magali? A relief.
"It was good because there was no time for the cancer to spread. I have two scars, but I have the support of my husband and I don't see any problem with it. I didn't get silicone implants and it doesn't bother me."
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women. In Brazil, there are nearly 60,000 new cases per year. When diagnosed early, the chance of a cure is 95%. That is why it is necessary to always perform self-exams and see a doctor at any sign of changes in the breasts. Magali has made self-exams and medical check-ups part of her routine and tries to alert other women. "Performing self-exams is important to discover any problem as early as possible."