By Pauline Odhiambo
Like Lord Byron's muse, she walks in beauty and wears the smiles that win, stamping her stilettoes on the stereotype of beauty being skin deep.
At 37, Marion Peake – a South African cancer survivor and pageant contestant – is blazing a trail as someone who has conquered her inhibitions of who she is and shown the world how to find beauty in what is seen as imperfection.
"I felt like my womanhood had been stripped away and my identity compromised. I felt less" Marion says, who had her breasts surgically removed in 2018.
Today, Marion, who has competed in three beauty pageants, feels nothing less than absolutely beautiful. It wasn't always the case, as she admits to struggling with low self-esteem before becoming a beauty queen.
Grim diagnosis
Marion was 32 and looking forward to celebrating her youngest daughter's first birthday when her life's toughest challenge came calling.
She noticed that one of her breasts looked larger than normal and was painful. She initially dismissed it as just a mild side effect of breastfeeding.
A biopsy later revealed the cause as triple-positive breast cancer where an excess of certain hormones in the body accelerates tumour growth.
In Marion's case, the tumour was the size of a tennis ball.
"When I went to get the biopsy results with my mum, I remember sitting in the waiting room and saying, 'I can never have cancer,'" recalls the mother of two girls and CEO of a non-profit for girls called “Helping Those In Need.”
"When they confirmed that I have cancer, I immediately broke down. The first thing that came to my mind was my kids. Who would be there for my youngest when she started Grade 1? Who would hug them when they were hurt? I had all these overwhelming emotions because I thought I was going to die."
Stage 3 cancer
After being informed that the cancer was already advanced, preparations for surgery swiftly began. A double mastectomy was recommended, and all breast tissue was removed to prevent the spread or growth of the stage 3 cancer.
The good news was that she was no longer in pain, which meant she was quickly on her feet and back to work just days after the surgery.
"I had the operation on June 5 and was out of the hospital by June 8. The next day, I fed 250 children while still having staples on my chest," says Marion, who has legal guardianship of 33 girls. "Some people thought I had gone crazy but needed to feel alive."
Staying alive
Marion was put on lifetime hormone-suppressing medication, meaning she had to take chemotherapy tablets daily for the rest of her life to keep the cancer at bay. Being on hormone therapy presented yet another health challenge.
"I gained so much weight that I was 104kg at my highest. I felt ugly and depressed, anxious, and insecure," she recounts.
Bouncing back
Unwilling to let her life drag, Marion began exercising to lift her spirits. "I needed to gain confidence to look in the mirror and see my beauty," she says.
"So, I started eating healthy and going to the gym, and my health improved. I felt rejuvenated and gained confidence and a new sense of self-worth."
Within months of a healthier regimen, Marion lost 42kg and gained the confidence to participate in beauty pageants.
"When I reached my health goal, I wanted to share my experience with other women feeling low and self-conscious about their bodies. That’s why I entered the Mrs. South Africa contest last year," she says.
She is now a finalist in the Mrs. Eastern Cape South Africa contest and hopes to win the pageant on October 7, making her the first beauty queen worldwide without breasts.
"I feel like that will be a strong message of empowerment and enrichment for women to step out of their comfort zone and supersede whatever obstacle, no matter how imperfect they are. There's beauty in that, too," she says.
Soldiering on
Although Marion is scheduled to undergo yet another surgery to take out her uterus – a procedure that will hopefully tackle the hormonal imbalance in her body – she is grateful that she can continue being a mother to the many girls in her organisation.
"The prospect of having a hysterectomy feels like yet another part of my womanhood is being taken away from me because when that happens, it means I will never bear another child," she says.
But knowing that she is working to transform abandoned and abused girls and empower them for the next generation is all the encouragement she needs to keep going.
"Having a purpose gives you the will to live," says Marion.
