Erin is blooming after shock

A HAMLYN Heights woman is one of 12 to feature in the 2018 So Brave calendar aimed at raising awareness of breast cancer in women under 40.

Erin Wood was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer soon after her 37th birthday at the end of 2015. It was her first routine breast check.

“It wasn’t something I thought would happen to me, I thought I was too young,” Ms Wood said.

She spent most of 2016 having treatment, relocating from Geelong back in with her family in Colac to reduce the financial pressures.

“I had treatment primarily in Geelong because the cancer centre had just opened in Colac and they weren’t doing everything at that stage,” she said.

“Even though it’s only an hour down the road, when you’ve just had treatment travelling an hour feels like a long way.”

Ms Wood, who will continue to have hormone therapy for another five to 10 years, chose to be photographed at the Otway Fly where she had often gone to escape over the journey.

The photo shoot involved eight hours of full body paint that represented Ms Wood’s personality.

“I’ve got a thing about music and flowers, I wanted to be really bright,” she said.

“It was quite liberating and to feel beautiful in my own skin and it came at a time that I really needed it.”

Ms Wood, a water meter reader, will see her final calendar image for the first time at a public unveiling event in Melbourne on September 23, a day after So Brave officially launches as Australia’s young women’s breast cancer charity.

Proceeds raised from the sale of the calendar will go to the McGrath Foundation and breast cancer research.

More than $70,000 was distributed from the sales of So Brave’s first calendar in 2016. To order a calendar visit sobrave.com.au