Meet Beautiful Lluvia! 

She came in being a bit shy. She didn't quite feel comfortable being in front of the camera. We got to chatting and we talked about her beautiful daughters. Like a proud mama she showed them off by pictures and we both admired their beauty! I mentioned to her that they MUST get their looks from their gorgeous mother and she just smiled and blushed! Lluvia asked me if I knew of a spanish actress named Daniela Romo. She recently was battling breast cancer and she really liked one the the images she took and wanted something similar. I truly enjoyed taking pictures of this amazing, woman mother, warrior! Please scroll down to view her images and read her bio :) 

My name is Lluvia Zatarain and I am the mother of three beautiful daughters.  The oldest is Hilary who is 15 years old, Mia is the middle child at age 11, and my youngest Brismar is 3 years old.  

On October 25, 2014 I was diagnosed with stage 3 Inflammatory Breast Cancer at age 35.  This changed my life completely.  All that was on my mind when I received the diagnosis was what would happen to my three girls. The news of me having cancer was truly a sad and hard truth, but I stayed positive and strong and knew that I would win this fight for my three girls.  Even though I do not have family here in the United States and all my family is in Mexico, I still knew I was not alone here and I knew I had friends that cared about me.

I worried about what would happen because I am a single mother. I didn’t know what would happen with my job since am a barber.  I worried about whether I would still be able to keep my job and cut hair to support my family.  

My oncologist told me that my treatments were going to be very aggressive because my cancer was aggressive. I was told that I would have to go through 16 chemotherapies and 34 radiation treatments. I was honestly scared and worried about how my body would react to such aggressive treatment.  I didn’t know if I was going to be able to endure so much.  But even when I was scared about it all I still stayed positive with a lot of will to life.

At the start of my treatment I was left with having to pay for a large portion of it because my insurance did not cover all the expenses.  I spoke to my family in Mexico about all of this and they suggested I move to Mexico where all the expenses would be covered.  But I had my three girls here in the United States so I could not leave.  I did not have all the money needed to start my treatment so some of my close friends went out of their way to raise money by doing raffles, garage sales, and preparing and selling food.  With all their efforts I was finally able to begin my treatment to beat this cancer.

My friend Azucena Valenzuela in particular was a huge support for me. She went as far as to miss work so she could take me to my chemotherapy appointments.  I honestly do not know what I would have done without all her support and friendship as well as all of my other friends that acted as my family through it all.  My uncle Manuel Garcia and all his family were a really big help too.  I received support from so many people - I cannot name them all or it would be too long of a list - but I am truly grateful to every single one of them for all their support and continued help through this.

After I was done with all my chemotherapy and radiation treatments in May of 2015, I was scheduled to have surgery to remove my breast.  The oncologist informed me of the possibility of my cancer coming back and developing in my other breast.  He gave me a week to think about possibly removing both of my breasts.  I thought it over really hard and the next day I called him and told him I had made the decision to remove both of my breasts and hopefully later to begin reconstruction.

Thanks to God the surgery was successful.  After everything my body has been through, it is not the same and my life is different as well.  But I treat every day as if it is my last and stay positive with faith that everything will be okay.  Now I can actually hold my youngest daughter Brismar.  During my treatments she was only 1 ½ years old and I was not able to caress her or hold her in my arms due to not having strength in my body after every chemotherapy session.  I hold all three of my beautiful girls now every day and tell them I love them with all my heart since they are the world to me.  They were my whole reason for wanting to live and win the battle against this cancer.  

No one really knows how to be strong until you are faced with a hard situation and being strong is the only choice you have.  Remember that it is not always easy to have the strength to keep going and keep fighting in order to win any battle in life.

I give thanks to all my friends, family, and Singleton Moms who help and support people with different types of cancer, and help people to stay positive and encourage them to keep going through a life challenge such as this.  It was never easy but with the amazing support I have received it really does ease the challenge.  Thank you all truly.