Payal’s Story

Meet the Models, SoCal: Payal

For Payal, the journey to the runway began not with a diagnosis, but with a decision. A physician and a mother of twin daughters, she chose to take control of her health before illness could make the choice for her.

In 2022, Payal tested positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation—a discovery that shifted everything. Her maternal aunt had passed away from breast cancer at a young age in India, and while her own mother had tested negative, Payal felt an unshakable intuition that she, too, should be screened. After initially putting it off while her children were young, she finally took the test. She received the results while returning from vacation.

“It wasn’t cancer—but it was a shadow. The numbers were clear, and I knew what I needed to do.”

Choosing Prevention—With Urgency and Resolve

Payal’s approach was swift and decisive. Within three months of her genetic results, she underwent a hysterectomy and oophorectomy, followed by a double mastectomy that spring. Her network of physician friends helped fast-track her appointments, and her family—many of whom also tested positive—rallied around her.

“I didn’t do well with the idea of lifelong screening. I knew myself, and I knew I couldn’t live with that kind of uncertainty.”

Still, it wasn’t a choice without consequence. She remembers moving through the decisions intellectually, lining up appointments and surgeries like checkboxes on a to-do list. But the emotional weight followed later.

“There was a sense of loss, and I didn’t even have a name for it at the time. I had chosen life, but I also had to grieve what I gave up in that process.”

Family, Femininity, and Forward Motion

Her daughters were in sixth grade at the time—old enough to see what was happening, and curious about what it meant for their own future. Payal and her husband were open with them, allowing their girls to ask questions and witness recovery. From watching their mother’s drains after surgery to understanding the implications of genetic risk, the experience sparked awareness they’ll carry forward into adulthood.

“Right now, they think I’m lucky because I don’t get my period,” she says with a smile. “But they know. They know what I went through.”

She also experienced the emotional complexity that often accompanies previvorhood: the pressure to feel grateful, the tension of survivor’s guilt, and the misconception that preventative surgery is somehow easy or cosmetic.

“It wasn’t cancer, but it was still loss. The relief didn’t erase the grief.”

The Power of Being Seen

Though she was invited to join the Runway community a year prior, it wasn’t until this year that Payal said yes. With both of her teenage daughters walking beside her, the moment felt right.

“At first I wasn’t sure—but when my daughters said they wanted to walk with me, I knew it was time.”

Payal is walking in celebration of choice, in gratitude for access to care, and in recognition of the nuanced emotional terrain of being a previvor. She brings with her a deep well of wisdom—as a physician, a mother, and a woman who made a hard but life-affirming choice.

This February, she’ll take the stage alongside her daughters, representing the future she helped shape by listening to her instincts, trusting the science, and taking action. Her walk will be a powerful reminder that even the absence of disease carries its own weight—and that bravery isn’t always about fighting illness, but sometimes about preventing it.