Former Miss USA contestant made a life-changing decision at 26 after cancer devastated family
At age 26, Allyn Rose made a life-changing decision after cancer had devastated her family.
The model, who competed in both the Miss America and Miss USA pageants, underwent a preventive double mastectomy, a decision she said even sparked "hate mail" from critics. Today, the mother of two is the founder of The Previvor, a nonprofit organization that educates women about breast cancer risk and prevention options. Oct. 31 marks the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"I know a lot of people think that's a pretty radical choice for someone who hadn't been diagnosed with breast cancer yet," Rose, now 38, told Fox News Digital. "But I lost my mom when I was 16. And by the time I was 16, I had lost my grandmother, my great aunt, almost every woman in my family to this disease. And I said that legacy ends with me."
"I don't want that to be my story," she said. "I don't want to have to tell my 16-year-old daughter someday that she's going to have to spend the rest of her life without her mom. This sad family legacy was not going to take my life if I had anything to do with it."
Rose's mother, Judy Rose, was first diagnosed with breast cancer at 27 and had her right breast removed. The cancer later developed in her remaining breast, reaching stage 3, according to People magazine. Judy died at 51.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the U.S. after skin cancers, accounting for about 1 in 3 new cancer cases diagnosed in women each year, according to the American Cancer Society. About 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop breast cancer during their lives.
WATCH: ALLYN ROSE CHOSE DOUBLE MASTECTOMY AT 26 SO CANCER LEGACY 'ENDS WITH ME'
The organization estimates that 321,910 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among U.S. women in 2026 and that about 42,140 women will die from the disease.
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Rose was considered at elevated risk of developing breast cancer because of her extensive family history. In 2012, she was crowned Miss District of Columbia, earning the opportunity to represent the district at the 2013 Miss America pageant. That same year, at 24, Rose announced her decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy. She had the surgery two years later, at 26.
For women with a strong family history of breast cancer, a bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy can lower the risk of developing the disease by up to 90%, according to the National Cancer Institute. The procedure does not eliminate the risk entirely because it is impossible to remove all breast tissue that could become cancerous.
"So much of my life and my identity was wrapped up in the way that I looked and how I presented myself to the world," Rose said. "I paid my bills and my rent with the way that I looked. I didn't think [my looks] were 100% of my identity, but I would be lying if I didn't consider the repercussions of having a surgery like this. It would very likely end my modeling career, my career in pageantry, my career really in the entertainment industry. There were so few women talking about having a procedure like this and coming out on the other side."
"I wasn't married," she said. "I didn't have any children. These were all conversations I was going to have with a future partner someday. And so, it was a really tough choice, and it's one that I'm glad that I made, but it's very difficult to make the decision to have a surgery to prevent a cancer that didn't exist yet."
With her father's support, Rose underwent a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. She ended up having three surgeries, including reconstruction, and went through what she described as "very graphic periods of looking completely different, having no breasts, wondering who is ever going to be happy looking at me like this."
Then she remembered her mother, Judy.
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"[Losing my mother] drastically impacted my life, not only because it was my mother, but because I didn't know how to be a woman yet," she said. "[When I lost her] I hadn't even gotten my driver's license. I hadn't graduated from high school. I hadn't sent myself off to college yet. I spent a lot of those real pinnacle years of my life without a mentor, without someone to guide me through that. It was a very challenging time really, having to be my own cheerleader, experience all those crowning achievements in my life by myself."
"But I think I've come out stronger on the other side of it," Rose said.
Rose said she received hate mail over her decision, while her father also faced criticism after people learned he had encouraged his daughter to undergo the double mastectomy.
"To see a young person who walked on the Miss USA stage, who worked full-time as a model, who was really in this beauty industry — choosing to almost end my career to prolong my life seemed like a foreign concept," Rose said.
"And there were a lot of radical responses to my decision. I got hate mail. My father received hate mail. People just couldn't fathom that I would take this preventative step. But I didn't want cancer to be part of my story. I wanted it to end with me."
Rose made her decision before actress Angelina Jolie publicly revealed that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after genetic testing showed she carried a harmful BRCA1 gene variant.
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In a May 2013 New York Times op-ed, Jolie explained that her mother had battled cancer for nearly a decade before dying at 56. Jolie said her doctors estimated she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. She chose to have both breasts removed, which she said reduced her estimated breast cancer risk to less than 5%.
Jolie, who was 37 at the time, said she shared her experience so other women could better understand their own risks and options.
Rose said she thought her modeling career was over. But in 2019, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit featured her, making her the first woman who had undergone a double mastectomy to appear in the publication.
Today, Rose travels across the country to raise awareness about "the power in prevention."
"The thing I wish someone had told me when I was first navigating this was that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Rose said. "Everything was a question. It was this fear of the unknown. But I said to myself, 'I'm going to still chase all of those dreams. I'm going to go accomplish all the things that I wanted to.'"
When she looks back on her journey, one person comes to mind: her mother, Judy.
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"I do think about what my mom would think, and I know she would be incredibly proud of me," Rose said, fighting back tears. "One of the last things she said to me was, 'Don't let my life be in vain.' And I made a promise to her that I would make use of every day that she didn't have. And so, that has been my mission from the day that she passed to ensure that I could help as many women as possible not have to walk their lives without their mom. That's my goal."
"I have two children," Rose said. "They don't have the same gene mutation that I have. They no longer have an increased risk of cancer. And that legacy ended with me, and I know my mom would be very proud that I did that."