Key TakeawaysLisa McKenzie’s innovative idea to help women with cancer regain their self-confidence has earned her a prestigious award.Individuals undergoing cancer treatments can experience emotional challenges, including shame over their changed appearance.All cancer patients need support beyond medical therapy.
Key Takeaways
Lisa McKenzie’s innovative idea to help women with cancer regain their self-confidence has earned her a prestigious award.Individuals undergoing cancer treatments can experience emotional challenges, including shame over their changed appearance.All cancer patients need support beyond medical therapy.
After witnessing the emotional impact of cancer treatments on her mom and two close friends, Lisa McKenzie knew she had to do something to help women with cancer.
“My mom had breast cancer my senior year of college,” McKenzie tells Verywell. “I was angry, but she was so matter-of-fact, even laughing about it. I was sitting there as a young daughter, thinking, How could she be making fun of this? She handled it swimmingly.”
As she watched her friends navigate the emotional complexities of a cancer diagnosis, McKenzie came across a magazine story about runway model training. The article touted that runway training taught confidence and camaraderie—two things that McKenzie felt would also be beneficial to cancer patients.
“I thought, You know who should be on that stage? Women who are battling cancer!” says McKenzie—and an idea was born. Since 2013, she’s been using her background in event planning to host runway shows for women with cancer.
Coping With Cancer
How Cancer Care Falls Short
As McKenzie noticed, manycancer support resourcesdo not adequately address the emotional needs of cancer patients outside of their physician’s offices and treatment centers.
“Traditionally, the after-treatment for cancer has been approached as a medical concept, and that’s where we’ve gone wrong,”Alene Nitzky, PhD, RN, OCN, an oncology nurse, and author of the book Navigating the C: A Nurse Charts the Course for Cancer Survivorship Care, tells Verywell. “It needs to be done in the community because that’s where we want people to be. We want them to go back and live their lives, not as a patient. You can not address that in a clinical setting.”
The Emotional Needs of Cancer Patients and Survivors
“Whenever somebody goes through cancer treatment, especially if they have surgery, it impacts how they feel about their body,” Nitzky says.
The change in appearance is not always limited to when a patient looks in the mirror—for some, the changes are noticeable to others. “Someone who hadcolon cancerand now has acolostomymay worry about how it impacts other people’s perception of them or their partner’s interest in them sexually,” Nitzky says. Additionally, chemotherapy drugs can impact cognitive function.
How the Runway Shows Began
McKenzie contacted a runway coach in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area, where she is located. The coach offered to gift a seven-week training class to 12 women with cancer. At a 2013 local National Cancer Day event, McKenzie found 25 cancer patients who expressed interest in joining the program—and her volunteer coach agreed to train all 25.
Lisa McKenzieThey are around like-minded women who understand that their symptoms are ongoing, and they don’t have to apologize for it.
Lisa McKenzie
They are around like-minded women who understand that their symptoms are ongoing, and they don’t have to apologize for it.
On event night, McKenzie’s mom was the first woman to step out on stage.
“I watched their confidence and the camaraderie grow," McKenzie says. “Many of them felt like I don’t have hair, I don’t have eyelashes, I don’t feel like I should be here, but I’m beginning to believe I do belong.”
Courtesy of You Night
What was even more healing to many of these patients was connecting with others who understood them. “This is not just a runway show," McKenzie says. “It is a support system for them. They are around like-minded women who understand that their symptoms are ongoing, and they don’t have to apologize for it.”
After the success of her initial event, McKenzie foundedYou Night Empowering Events, an organization that holds events aimed at empowering women who have had or are undergoing cancer treatments.
The Pandemic Necessitated Change—For the Better
By 2020, the number of You Night Runway Program participants had doubled to 50. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced McKenzie and her team to adapt many of their operations, including the Runway Night.
“We already had reserved the event facility, and we had a beautiful set designed,” McKenzie says. “Our participants were starting to get sad because their runway experience was going to be affected.”
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Instead of canceling the event, they decided to live-stream it. As restrictions lifted, they were able to train and practice safely with masks and other precautions. The live event had an attendance of 7,600—much higher than they would have had for an in-person occasion.
Sharing Stories, Empowering Others
The 2020 You Night Runway event also introduced Story Crafting, a way for the women to talk about themselves and reclaim their identities outside of their cancer diagnosis.
“We asked them about their stories outside of their cancer diagnosis, who they were, and what gave them the strength to get through their experiences,” McKenzie says. “They got to know each other on a deeper level, deeper than their disease. I love finding these stories that you would never get to learn during rehearsal.”
The Benefits of Cancer Support Communities
For her efforts, McKenzie received the prestigious C3(Changing Cancer Care) Innovation Prize from Astellas Oncology.
What is the C3 Prize?
Since 2016, Astellas has awarded $700,000 in grants and resources to those who seek to improve the lives of cancer patients.
The Future of You Night
“It’s such an honor to be the recipient of this award,” McKenzie says. “We self-funded the Story Crafting idea, but now we get to turn that into a business model.”
You Night is currently working with 54 women in the New Orleans area to develop a digital e-course to reach patients all around the country. The national launch is scheduled for later this year.
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