Surviving …Big Time.
Big Wave Photographer. Intrepid Game Changer.
From surfer.com | By Ashtyn Douglas
A BRCA1 gene carrier, award-winning filmmaker Sachi Cunningham had the preventative surgeries, only to discover fallopian tube cancer in the process. Throughout the treatment that followed and driven by passion and perseverance, she continued to brave the wild surf that comes with the territory of the big wave surf photography she loves, as well as her documentary film making and her position as an assistant professor of multimedia journalism at San Francisco State University.
Excerpt: …a former competitive swimmer and water polo player, Sachi has always felt drawn to the ocean and crashing waves. Of the role surf photography player for her throughout her diagnosis and treatment she says, “I think it saved me. It was a medicine in my arsenal of things that kept me alive–and continues to keep me alive. Being in the ocean lets you connect with something larger than yourself. One of the hardest things about cancer is not knowing what is going to happen next and having a total loss of control. I felt fine and strong a lot of the time, and I really owe that to the ritual I had of swimming in big waves. Every time I went out in the water during a bigger swell, it was a practice of being in an environment that I had no control over…”
To read more about Sachi, click here.
