This Woman's Photo Series Documenting Her Mastectomy Is So Incredibly Powerful

When Aniela McGuinness, a 32-year-old actress living in Hollywood, Florida, googled mastectomy before and after photos, she found the results upsetting. "It's a heartbreaking array of faceless women's maimed breasts under florescent lighting," she wrote on her ​her YouTube page.​

You see, in 2014, McGuinnes was planning a preventative bilateral mastectomy because she has BRCA1, a genetic mutation closely linked to breast cancer. In the midst of her scheduling, she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. 

"Before removing my breasts I wanted photographic evidence of what they looked like," she wrote. "But I didn't want mug shots of attempted murders. I wanted a photo that captured how I felt," she added.

To that end, she created a series of four powerful, humorous, gorgeous images that express the emotion of each stage of the process. 

The first image is her as the iconic Rosie the Riveter. It's perfect. She explains that it felt good to take her shirt off; not for a doctor's appointment, but because she wanted to . You can see the uncensored version here. 

Then came the Bride of Frankenstein, taken after her mastectomy (and a week before Halloween!). 

The third one came at the end of her chemotherapy. She chose mannequin because she had no hair and her breasts were fully expanded with expanders and she felt like she was made of plastic.

The last shot was taken two months after her reconstructive surgery, after she learned she was cancer-free. She decided to not get her nipples reconstructed because she "had too much fun not having nipples."

As you can tell, McGuinness is hilarious and winning, and her entire Instagram is filled with lovely, silly gems like this:

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/7P5OLEJlHx" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/7GvSXKplCK" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

[instagram ]https://instagram.com/p/8lldJiJlCE/" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);" >

And definitely watch the entire movie of her experience. It's something special. 

[youtube ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR107MoPDUo" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="">

Follow Laura on Twitter.