Anyone who has ever tried to wear a hospital gown knows how tricky it can be. But for artist Ellie Olsen, who is undergoing treatment for a rare form of breast cancer, it became an opportunity to be creative and find humor in a stressful situation.
“I tried to put on a hospital gown before radiation the other day, but it was really confusing,” Olson, 40, who lives in Brooklyn, told Yahoo Life. “Instead of feeling frustrated, I decided to create my own ‘robe’ design.”
Olson said she and the radiation specialist were “laughing so hard” at her hospital gown that she decided to do it the next day and then committed herself to doing it for the 30 days she was treated with radiation. I jokingly refer to this project as the “Radiation Runway.” I love the feedback I get from Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn!”
She added: “Fallout Track lifted the spirits of the waiting room and helped create a community of compassion and fun. Why not keep doing things that bring joy and laughter to the room? Plus, I’m an artist, so the idea was a welcome challenge.”
After returning from her 30-day radiation treatment, Olsen photographed every outfit and shared a montage of her look on Instagram. She said the response had been “very kind and uplifting”, with Instagram users calling it “beautiful”, “brilliant” and “sassy”. Olsen took a selfie in the mirror, which also showed off her vibrant pineapple phone case, which some thought was real. “People laugh at my pineapple,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realize it’s my phone!”
The feedback Olson has received “makes me glad the video exists,” she says. “If my experience can help other people feel inspired or laugh, that’s great, especially if they’re going through a tough time. Cancer takes a lot from people, but we can still have fun and celebrate life!”
The experience was a bright spot in her cancer journey, which began in May 2020 when Olson noticed a painful lump in her breast. “It’s hard to go to the doctor because COVID is still in its early stages,” she explained. “The lump continued to grow and the pain started to affect my life.”
A close friend kept encouraging Olson to get checked out, and she did. “My doctor and I thought it was a cyst,” she recalled. Months of biopsies, ultrasounds and test results were “strange but benign.”
In September 2020, Olsen was sent to a breast surgeon, who removed 6 centimeters of “dead” tissue from her breast. “A month later, I noticed a new lump in the same area growing rapidly and becoming painful again,” Olson said. “We did another ultrasound and biopsy, and this time it turned out to be malignant.”
Her doctors immediately set up a treatment plan that included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Olson was officially diagnosed with invasive cancer with bone marrow features on February 28, 2021, when she was 39 years old. “This is a rare form of breast cancer that is treated as triple-negative breast cancer,” she said. According to the American Cancer Society, triple-negative breast cancers “differ from other types of invasive breast Cancer in that they grow and spread faster, have limited treatment options, and a worse prognosis.”
The radiation treatment Olson received was “exhausting.” But she also said that “people are what keeps me going,” from the “incredible” hospital front desk and radiation staff, to the other cancer patients who go through radiation and sit in the waiting room with her every day, to “my lovely family and friends cheering me on.”
Olson said her mother, who had breast cancer five years ago, also inspired her. “She stayed positive and humorous throughout her cancer, so it was very helpful to watch her,” Olson said. “She also gave me some advice from her own experience on what to expect.”
However, the last day of radiation therapy brought mixed emotions. “I knew from the beginning that the last day was going to be tough,” Olsen said. “I see people five days a week. They were my social outlet and the people who saved my life.”
She added: “On the last day of radiation, there was also a feeling of, ‘Now what? “I was scared. What would life be like?” Olsen said she took two weeks off and was “nice and gentle with myself,” adding, “Now, I’m slowly getting my strength back and getting back to art and fun and doing everything I love.”
While her energy levels are still lower than before, Olson shared that it’s hard not to want to go back and “do everything.” But, she said, “I learned a lot about the importance of rest during cancer. When I feel overwhelmed, I pause now because I know the value of health.”