Jessica Brubaker Talks Tonight's Fashion Show, Her Battle With Cancer and How She Gets Better Every Day

Jessica Brubaker has a mantra she’s repeated so many times during the past eight months she won’t possibly ever forget it: “Better every day.”

She and her husband shared the words, back and forth, as she battled the Stage 2 breast cancer her doctor found back in March of this year. Her three daughters learned the phrase. It became a local movement.

Brubaker, 33, is one of several models participating in tonight’s Pampered in Pink Fashion Show in Macy’s at the Oakbrook Center Mall. The show, which starts at 6 p.m. and is slated to last an hour and a half, features cancer survivors as both clothing models and “models of hope,” showing off in the latest fashions, a press release states.

“This fashion show presents an opportunity for theses brave women to sh

ow they are much more than a cancer diagnosis,” Janet Kennedy, Oncology Outreach Specialist at the AMITA Health Cancer Institute, said in the release. “With their stamina, fighting spirit and hope, they are our inspiration in continuing the fight against breast cancer.”

Brubaker learned of her diagnosis after a routine doctor’s appointment that she almost didn’t go to at all. But she decided to do a self-breast exam one day, she said, and felt something, so she went to the doctor to get it checked out.

A mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy later, she was diagnosed April 1 with Stage 2 Her2Neu positive breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy, targeted therapy and a double mastectomy in July before coming out of surgery cancer-free this summer.

“I had what they call a complete pathological response to the chemo,” she explained. “I’ll continue various forms of targeted and hormone therapy for the next five years, but I’m well on my way to recovery.”

Brubaker was asked to participate in the show by one of her doctors at the Illinois Cancer Specialist Center in Hinsdale at a post-surgery appointment.

“Shortly thereafter I received a call saying I had been selected to participate as a ‘survivor,’” she said. “It was the first time anyone outside my family called me that.”

She cried through the whole phone call and after she hung up.

Once the planning team learned about Brubaker’s family, her three daughters were invited to participate. Brubaker said since then, 4-year-old Hayden and 2-year-olds Taylor and Chelsea have been trying on dresses at Macy’s and practicing “walking pretty” at their house almost nightly in preparation for the show.

Brubaker has learned an immense amount about breast cancer over the past few months and, especially, about the amount of young women it affects today, she said.

“I’ve also learned how little I knew — and how little those around me seem to know — about breast cancer, despite it being a fairly common diagnosis,” she said. “Events like this one are a great way to support those facing breast cancer and celebrate survivors in a fun way while spreading awareness.”

Brubaker has also strived to spread awareness through her personal mantra and the #bettereveryday movement she created. Her family held a fundraiser of the same name to celebrate the end of her chemo, she said, explaining that her husband, Reed, made custom shirts to mark the event. The fundraiser brought in enough money to donate 100 chemo care totes to the Illinois Cancer Specialist Center in Hinsdale.

“Over time we started sharing the mantra with others who were facing any number of challenges — from fellow breast cancer patients to people struggling with infertility or diabetes or any other number of challenges — and they've told us that it's a mindset that has helped them to stay positive and find light, hope and promise in every day,” she said.

Brubaker is excited for this evening’s event. She said she doesn’t know exactly what to expect, but is currently just keeping her fingers crossed that she and her daughters don’t trip on the runway, that her girls don’t get stage fright and that everyone has a good time.

“If this event can help people better understand breast cancer, or help be the nudge that even one person needs to get a mammogram or take other preventative steps, I think that would be a big win,” she said.

For directions and further event details, click here.

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Photos courtesy of Jessica Brubaker.