Breast Cancer Awareness Month: a survivor's journey - in pictures

"I am a primary school teacher. I'm also a cancer survivor, meaning that I have cancer. I know I have it, and I'm still alive." Photograph: Rafaella Bolla

"The body changes. I find it hard to recognise myself in the mirror. That puffy face cannot be mine. The cancer survivor's only weapon is irony, so I decided to cut my hair." Photograph: Raffaella Bolla

"I see the fragility of my life and realise the need to have new priorities every day. I am overwhelmed by a myriad of questions - Why me? Is there a God? What's the meaning of this?" Photograph: Raffaella Bolla

"In Italy people don't use the word 'cancer'. The fact that you can't mention the name of your disease makes you feel like you are almost dead, or invisible. You feel like people think of you as the winter – the last season of life." Photograph: Raffaella Bolla

"I look androgynous, without a sex ... only because I'm bald. I hate to be deprived of my identity as a woman." Photograph: Rafaella Bolla

"My body doesn't end with my death. My body, my life, the memories of me will continue to survive because of love. I see myself like a flower. My face is swollen and my nails are purple because of the chemotherapy, but I know I can still bloom and live. I can still love and be loved." Photograph: Daniela Dall'Ora

"Here I am. I am a woman. I'm wearing red - the colour of life. I have my scars and and I can't live my life without them." Photograph: Noemi Meneguzzo

"What sucks life from me are the comments from people who look at me with pity. They think I am in the winter of my life. Or is it me that thinks that?" Photograph: Meri Cecchetto

"The moment comes when I have to take off the bandages after the mastectomy. I'm terrified. The lights of the bathroom are soft but the mirror doesn't lie. I see my body; it's still young and graceful so I start dancing." Photograph: Noemi Meneguzzo