Breast Cancer Survivor Receives Confidence-Boosting Surgery Following a Botched Mastectomy

Mi’Chelle Nelson has been cancer-free since 2008, but her confidence after a botched mastectomy was at an all-time low.

When the California native was diagnosed with breast cancer, her doctors recommended that she have a double mastectomy. For her, the decision was easy.

“I was going to lose my breasts or lose my life,” Nelson said.

She underwent the surgery and though successful, it left her with horrible scars that ran from the back of her underarm to the center of her breasts. The mastectomy also caused reoccurring infections that made reconstruction surgery impossible.

“By the time my body was ready for reconstruction, my insurance was gone,” Nelson explained.

Since then, Nelson has been living with breasts she found “embarrassing” and “humiliating.”

Nelson appeared on the syndicated daytime series The Doctors with Dr. Travis Storklast year to share her story. It was then that board certified plastic surgeon Michael Zarrabi offered his services to her free of charge through “Chapter 2,” a non-profit designed to help those in need of cosmetic or reconstructive surgery.

After undergoing a five-hour surgery, she returns to The Doctors to show off the results.

Not only did Nelson look great, but her spirit was palpably higher as well.

“I feel like a new woman,” she shared.