Meet the Models, SoCal: Samantha Reese

Samantha Reese was shocked to receive a breast cancer diagnosis at age 32 in 2016. Preparing to move across country with her boyfriend (now husband), the diagnosis complicated things, particularly because the cancer was aggressive.

After the move, Samantha jumped right into treatment, beginning with a  double mastectomy (“recovery from that surgery is no joke!”) and 13 rounds of chemo. Samantha notes that though people expect chemo to be bad, people often don’t hear about how hard recovery from it is: “obviously side effects are bad, but things like your hair growing back and your body just trying to find normalcy again is really difficult.”

As Samantha’s life moved on, she made the decision, with the help of doctors, to go off maintenance medication in order to have a child. It’s a decision many women, especially those diagnosed young, choose to do. However in 2022, Samantha’s scans showed breast cancer in her lymph nodes, resulting in a stage four, metastatic diagnosis. While she says there is “always a part of you that blames yourself,” her scans show no metastasis to any bones or organs and current treatment is going well.

Samantha knows that this diagnosis is “not the end. This situation is not going to stop me.” Indeed, Samantha is excited to walk the runway to display her strength and resiliency this January.