AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin nonprofit's mission is to provide experiences that promote wellness, beauty and fashion for families dealing with pediatric cancer or other chronic illnesses.
- Fashion show is Sunday
- Participants are patients fighting cancer
- Portion of ticket sales will go back to the teen support group
Beautifully Loved founder Aysa Province knows how challenging it can be for families to find time to focus on their well-being, and that's where her organization steps in.
The biggest fundraiser for the year, the Beautifully Loved Fashion Show, brings more than two dozen patients fighting cancer, disease and disorders on stage for the day to strut their stuff and gain confidence.
"They range from age 12 to 22 and it's just a day to celebrate them make them feel beautiful and strong and just be there to support them," Province said.
The fashion show is in its sixth year, and a portion of ticket sales will go back to the teen support group at Dell Children's Blood and Cancer Center that allows them to connect with others going through similar experiences. In the show, the boys and girls model the newest trends and accessories from Austin-area shops with hair and makeup services from professionals and receive a swag bag filled with goodies from local businesses to take home.
"So the fashion show did come first and Beautifully Loved came because of the fashion show because we saw all the positive effects. And now we have nine programs," Province said. "So the fashion show is also a fundraiser which helps us support those programs throughout the year and we serve all ages and the entire family in those programs."
The goal, Province said, is to not only create experiences for patients, mothers, fathers, siblings through wellness, beauty and fashion but create confidence, self-love and supported dreams.
"The thing I love about Beautifully Loved is how we can just show up for these families without them asking, and just take care of them for a second because maybe they don't have the energy to take care of themselves. And just remind them of how strong they are and how beautiful they are, how loved they are," Province said. "Just really let them see themselves in this beautiful light that we all feel they deserve to be seen in and they are beautiful."
One of the models in the show, Cami, has a rare blood disorder. She is a lifelong patient at Dell Children’s and has been dependent on blood transfusions off and on since birth. Thanks to a special type of chemotherapy, her counts have stabilized.
“We’ve been able to lower the dose some which helps decrease side effects but it looks like for now, to stay stable, I'll be on it for the foreseeable future or possibly lifelong which sucks but it's better than constantly every two weeks needing three units of blood,” Cami said.
With Beautifully Loved, Cami found a place where her illness couldn’t define her.
“Growing up with these health issues, one of the hardest parts was not knowing people like me,” Cami said. “I had great friends but nobody who truly understood my day to day symptoms and life with health issues. So finding this community through Beautifully Loved changed my life.”
Cami said the annual fashion show is the highlight of her year. It brings her and her fellow models the sense of normalcy, gaining confidence with each step down the runway.
“It leaves you feeling really empowered and with a huge sense of confidence and loved. And it just reminds you that you have such a strong community of people that are like you and understand what you're going through. It's incredible and the feeling you get from it lasts long after the show,” Cami said.
The fashion show is Sunday, February 16 at Fair Market from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. with tickets at the door or online. Click here to purchase tickets for the show online.