An Irishwoman who lost a leg to cancer spoke about how she’s embracing her new modelling career.
22-year-old Bernadette Hagans lost her right leg last October after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma.
The ambitious Belfast woman decided to not let her disability hold her back from enjoying her life.
She said: “Modelling is amazing as I can just be me and my disability doesn't hold me back."
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Bernadette, who had suffered pain in her leg for nearly a year before the diagnosis, said she knew she couldn’t change the circumstances of the amputation.
She told the Irish Sun: “It was happening and I just needed to deal with it. But at the same time I knew my family would take it badly.
“So I just made a joke about it. I figured if I can keep them laughing then they wouldn't be crying.”
Bernadette had to learn to walk again in January and has a prosthetic leg.
She said she was intent on not hiding her leg.
She added: “I think because when I told people about the amputation, a lot of them said, 'Oh, at least you can wear jeans'.
“People thought I wouldn't be able to wear a dress again and I just thought, 'I'll wear what I want to wear'.”
She sent in an application to modelling agency Zebedee who work with models from various backgrounds.
They asked her for photos and she got her test shoots done in London and has been working for them ever since.
She said: “I was initially going to say no but then I thought of kids who have had amputations and that it might be cool for them to see a model with a prosthetic.
“They might see me do it and realise they can too."
Bernadette is currently cancer free but still suffers from phantom pain in her leg.
But she doesn’t let this affect the exciting opportunities coming her way.
