The "Bald Ballerina," the moniker of Maggie Kudirka, a woman who has battled cancer and undergone a double mastectomy, is dancing and teaching young women again. Kudirka has been in and out of the hospital for the past year, undergoing cancer treatment, but has not let it hinder her calling as a dancer and advocate for young women everywhere.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means any and everyone is adorned in pink to rally support. For Maggie Kudirka, every month is a reason to celebrate her continuation as a ballerina, despite a most vicious antagonist to her story.
"I don't know what I would do with my life if I couldn't dance," Kudirka told WBALTV. The Ellicott City, Maryland native learned at age 23 that she had stage 4 breast cancer. Now, at 24, her hair has started to grow back and she is continuing her life as she always would.
She continued, "I don't like the curly hair. I now can dance four times a week for like three hours. I'm starting to do rehearsals and getting ready for the Nutcracker and a concert in January to raise money for my medical bills."
Her condition means treatment for life. The injections are Hereceptin and Perjeta, which are required on any stage 4 patient.
I can't have an end date of my treatment, so I have to get the drugs every three weeks indefinitely until they don't work, or something else comes along," Kudirka said.
Picturing a life of dance for herself on the stage, the Bald Ballerina had begun working with the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group in New York when she first started feeling ill.
Through social media, she has now built a new stage for herself, a stage that puts her in the light of being an advocate for young women and their health.
Our best wishes to Maggie as she continues to live without giving way to her condition and letting it inhibit her passion.
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