Michele Eger, breast cancer survivor, sits with quiet strength and resilience. Her portrait honors the beauty of perseverance and the courage to rediscover oneself—scars, spirit, and all.
A Journey of Grace and Grit
Michele Eger’s breast cancer story began long before her diagnosis. Adopted as a child, Michele lost her mother to breast cancer at just 10 years old. “She died at 39,” Michele shares. “I always feared it would happen to me too.” That fear became reality when Michele was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma HER 2+ breast cancer. “It felt like the other shoe had finally dropped.”
Originally from Tucson, Michele moved to Green Bay in 1999. She’s an artist at heart, finding joy in drawing and painting. But during treatment; lumpectomy, 12 rounds of weekly chemotherapy, and 20 days of radiation; her creative spirit was tested. “Losing my hair was the biggest slap,” she says. “It was my security blanket. I hated it short.”
Radiation was physically grueling, and emotionally, Michele leaned on her faith and the memory of her mother. “I felt her with me,” she says. “And I knew Jesus was walking beside me.”
Her support system was strong—family, friends, coworkers, and her husband. “Not unexpected,” she says, “but deeply appreciated.” Her workplace gave her the flexibility she needed, and her daughter and friends rallied around her.
Still, breast cancer changed her. “There’s a ‘before’ and ‘after’ version of me,” Michele says. “I’ve lost a lot of who I was—my hair, my figure, my confidence. But I’m working on it.”
Confidence is a daily battle. “Some mornings I forget what I look like until I pass a mirror,” she admits. That’s why she chose to participate in the boudoir-style portrait campaign. “This is something for me, to remind myself I’m beautiful and I’m doing my best.”
Her message to others is simple and powerful: “You’ll get to the other side. You can do it.”
She lives by the mantra: “I will succeed. I will be healthy. I will survive.”
Michele hopes her story shows that it’s okay to have good days and bad days. “It’s okay to laugh, smile, and feel joy, even after cancer.”
She also wants people to remember the caregivers. “My husband was more terrified than I was. Support people need nurturing too.”