Cheryl’s Story

Meet the Models, SoCal: Cheryl

This past fall, Cheryl walked the runway in Boston with her son beside her—bringing light, warmth, and presence to the stage. Now, just a few months later, she’s headed across the country to join her dearest metastatic breast cancer (MBC) friends in Southern California, dancing once again in celebration of life, connection, and resilience.

“The emotional struggle is probably harder than the treatments. When you have metastatic breast cancer, you may not look sick. But you feel far from normal.”

Metastatic breast cancer can be invisible to the outside world. Cheryl knows this all too well. Though she may appear outwardly healthy, the internal toll—emotional and physical—runs deep. That contrast, between how things look and how they feel, is often one of the hardest things to explain.

Her diagnosis was a moment that changed everything.

“I was terrified. I felt like my world had just closed in on me and came to a screeching halt. I remember feeling frozen, walking around in a total fog for months. It felt so strange to watch people go about their daily lives like everything was normal when for me, it was so far from it.”

But even in the midst of fear, Cheryl found steadiness in her circle. Friends and family surrounded her in the early days of treatment, and the simplest things—like a meal train—became profound reminders that she wasn’t in this alone.

“A meal train during treatment made such a difference—I didn’t have to think about what to eat, and that gave me space to focus on healing.”

Cheryl’s breast cancer journey has spanned both early-stage treatment and a later metastatic diagnosis. With that long road behind and ahead of her, she speaks with honesty about resisting the temptation to dwell in hindsight.

“I try not to think about what I would have done differently. I’ve spent time wondering if I could have prevented the cancer from coming back, but that’s not productive. It takes away from being present and enjoying the moment I’m in now.”

Her message to others beginning their cancer experience is simple but deeply true: The hardest part is the beginning.

“The period of time around the diagnosis is the worst. It will get better.”

And now, as she steps onto a new stage in Southern California—flanked by friends who understand the MBC journey intimately—Cheryl brings with her the clarity of someone who has moved through fear, isolation, and acceptance. She doesn’t deny the difficulty, but she doesn’t let it steal her joy either.

She models exactly what Runway is about: honoring every part of the story, from the terror to the beauty to the laughter that comes when you dance anyway.