THE ART of healing

Tanya Swiegers-Loots

Restore Dermapigmentation

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, then 40-year-old Tanya Swiegers-Loots was no stranger to the disease: her sister had been diagnosed four years prior at 37, and carried the BRCA1 gene, a genetic mutation that indicates an increased risk of breast cancer.

Tanya, an artist by trade, was diagnosed after one of her biggest projects. ‘I was working on a solo exhibition that took all my time and energy. I became aware of a lump in my breast but kept thinking, “I must get this exhibition out of the way. I can’t focus on anything else right now,” and didn’t think about it any further.’ Once the exhibition was over, at her husband Francois’s urging, she went to see a doctor.

She was sent for a mammogram, which showed no sign of trouble, followed by an ultrasound and a biopsy – which ultimately confirmed the lump was cancerous. Her doctor also advised Tanya to get tested for the BRCA1 gene. If she had it,