CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK, NY- A month ago, I sat at a Barnes & Noble café with my close friend Sasha. I discussed with her an idea for a video project inspired by a link she posted up last October. The link had images of female superheroes checking themselves for breast cancer doing self- breast examinations. I asked her “wouldn’t it be awesome if we can take that a step further and raise awareness for breast cancer with cosplayers?” She got excited and we flipped through comic books and graphic novels. We brainstormed ideas and got to work on putting everything together.
I did more research about breast cancer and got some interesting statistics. Through the power of social media, I told a few friends about the project to see who would be interested in participating. The response was amazing! Most of them were on board and would reach out to others about it. An event page was created and the posts from those participating gave me so much hope.
This past Friday and Saturday, after arranging a meeting place, location scouting, and getting feedback from the cosplayers, we got to film our video. The experience is indescribable. I got to make some new friends, learn more about what it takes to produce a video, and for the first time ever I decided to cosplay. I chose to be Sailor Jupiter since she has been my favorite guardian from Sailor Moon.
The tourist had a good time staring at us and taking photos. I am positive a lot of us are going to appear on Facebook and Instagram posts from random strangers. What I loved most was that Sasha and I got a group of talented individuals together for a good cause, and we had fun along the way. This restored a little bit of my faith in humanity. This weekend, these people have become real heroes for helping us deliver an important message about a cancer that affects us all. We even got them to dedicate the project to a loved one or anyone who is affected by this cancer.
This project is personal for me. Although my mom is in remission, she still needs encouragement to continue in her recovery. For her the fight will never be over. She still needs to get checked out every few months to make sure the cancer has not returned. I know many other women and men must feel the same way. This project is dedicated to all the victims, survivors, and those who are finding a cure for breast cancer. The video will be out in October. #PowerAgainstBreastCancer
Photos: Rosa Elena Burgos, Ben Diaz, Sasha Pineda, Joel Rivera, Jimmie Harrison
Note: Power Against Breast Cancer is out now on YouTube.
Last Updated: January 14, 2022