Boudoir Shoot After Cancer - Lindsay's Story

“The full body photo of me looking at myself in the mirror, destroyed my every emotion and made me so incredibly vulnerable in that moment.”

Lindsay Percy was just about to have her second baby when she started feeling unwell, after her Baby Girl came, she collapsed in her doctor’s office and the rest was a whirlwind of tests, diagnosis, cancer treatments and life saving surgeries.

Working with Lindsay again was magical. I had the pleasure of doing a boudoir session for her before she was sick or pregnant with her second daughter. But now, her outlook on life beams with positivity and I am so happy that through empowering Lindsay to love her body NOW, is helping us together, empower so many people of the world.

At EFP STUDIOS we strive to help each and every woman tell her story without altering their bodies. We do NOT take out stretch marks, cellulite, birth marks, scars, slim, trim, plump, round out or anything else because that is an unrealistic representation of who we are, what we look like, and the journeys we have been through in our lives. We are so honoured to be able to show off all of Lindsay’s incredible battle scars and her Ostomy bag!

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See what Lindsay has to say about her struggles this last year and about why she chose to celebrate her new appreciation for her body with EFP STUDIOS.

“I was looking at a person I had never seen before, a new me - if you will.”

“I was in a coma from the 12th to the 16th and I had two major surgeries in that time and they had found two tumors the size of cantaloupes…”

“I was nervous because this was a WHOLE new me, a new me I hadn’t seen in front of a camera, aside from taking selfies in the hospital to remember the milestones. I bared it all, my scars, stretch marks, loose skin, and my ileostomy bag. The bag that saved my life, out there for the world to see.

I chose Erika and EFP STUDIOS for this shoot, to celebrate what my body had gotten me through, because I was comfortable with her - but most of all, because I knew that she would capture EXACTLY what I wanted and needed to see in myself.

The full body photo of me looking at myself in the mirror, destroyed my every emotion and made me so incredibly vulnerable in that moment. I was looking at a person I had never seen before, a new me - if you will. A person who had fought the battle of her life and came out on top. A new, brave, and courageous version of me that was almost physically unrecognizable in my eyes. So much had changed in my body, and in my appearance, but what grew inside of me was truly magical. I felt the deepest love and appreciation for my body, a gratitude that I mentally cannot put into words. In doing this boudoir shoot, my level of appreciation, and the love I have for my body grew even more significantly.

I want to thank Erika for capturing these images for me, for capturing the most amazing moments in my life, where I grew in strength, and positivity.

I want to thank my husband for being by my side every single day, because without you, Wade, I wouldn’t be here. I want to thank our family, my mother in law and my father, aunt and uncle for looking after our girls while we were in the hospital in Calgary. I also want to extend the most sincerest of thank you’s to the amazing staff at Red Deer Regional Hospital - to the surgical team that saved my life and the ICU staff that saw me through the beginning of a long road. I want to thank the medical and surgical teams I had in Calgary, and I want to send the biggest thank you out to every nurse and doctor who treats patients on Unit 38 at PLC, because you all touched my life in ways I didn’t think were possible, and you’ve left a long lasting impression and so many memories.”

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Here are some of the images from Lindsay’s boudoir empowerment session. Keep scrolling to watch the viral video and to hear the details of Lindsay’s story at her battle with Burkitt’s Lymphoma.

“What’s more empowering than telling your story?”

If you haven’t already seen this video that has gone viral all over facebook, the news and the internet, HERE IT IS! (tip: watch with sound ON and don’t forget your tissues, you’re going to need them)

Watch the absolutely incredible and super emotional story of Lindsay's interview and her boudoir session with EFP Studios. Video produced by Wild North Photo and Film , Maici with Black Chair Beauty, and Amanda with Prismatic Beauty

”I'm here to do my reveal with EFP Studios and Erika today. I'm a little bit nervous, because the last year has been very rocky, with cancer and chemo. So this is going to be a very eye opening experience for me. I'm Lindsay. I recently went through the most difficult battle of my life. In December I first started getting sick when I was 8 months pregnant with our second daughter. We had our little girl on December 23, Christmas baby. She spend a week in the NICU, and that's when I really started to notice how week I was. We went home with baby girl and January 12 I collapsed in my doctors office. I was in a coma from the 12th to the 16th and I had two major surgeries in that time and they had found two tumors the size of cantaloupes on each ovary and tumors riddling my small bowl and a tumor on my liver. I had another surgery, it was my only option to save my life for a second time, to have an ostomy bag. So this was all two days before my 28th birthday. Once I was well enough and they had a bed upstairs for me again, I was transfered and started one of four very agressive rounds of chemo targeted for Burkitt's lymphoma. We had family looking after our girls that were three weeks old when I got sick and 15 months. So that was hard to be away from them. June 3rd I got to come home, and I've been home ever since. Now I'm working to empower people who have ileostomies or ostomies in general. and who have gone through or are going through a horrible battle with cancer.”

Why did you want to do a boudoir session?
" I have a new appreciation for my body. It got me through once heck of a battle and to me that deserved to be celebrated. You never really notice what your body has actually been through until you can see something like this where it's all like, unedited. That's why I come to you, you don't edit that stuff out.

My body went through extreme weight loss, rapid weight loss, I have extra skin, I have deep stretch marks, um.. I have cellulite that everyone can see. I have all my scars, from my surgeries. I have my ostomy bag now, it saved my life. The skin I'm in is all I have. My scars my flaws, everything is part of that.

My outlook on life has changed because I'm here and I'm alive. Being positive, regardless of what you're going through life. If you're going through body images and you think that your stretch marks are ugly or your scars are ugly, or the dark circles under your eyes are ugly, and you want to cover them up, don't because they tell your story. And what's more empowering than telling your story?”