When the letter from Macy’s arrived in the mail, Darla Tokuno had no idea why her daughter was so excited. The envelope contained an announcement letter, congratulating Tokuno on winning a spot on the runway for the 12th Annual Breast Cancer Survivor Fashion Show. Having heard about the contest for the first time, it took Tokuno a few moments to figure out it was her daughter, Deven’s, doing.
“When I read the congratulations letter and the essay she wrote I was hysterical and tears were flying,” Tokuno said.
Deven, a senior at Issaquah High School was driving home from her volunteer job at Overlake Hospital when she heard about an essay contest hosted by Macy’s. She immediately drove straight to the nearest Macy’s and hunted down an application. She went home and sat at her computer, writing an essay about her mother’s triumph over cancer.
“In life-changing events, one’s actions and attitudes distinguish the strong from the weak in mind, body and spirit. My mother is the strongest woman I know,” Deven wrote about her mother in her essay.
Tokuno first found she had cancer six months after her regular mammogram. She felt a knot, but thought little of it because her mammogram had been clean. A couple of months later she visited the doctors and underwent a biopsy. The next day the doctor called with the news.
“When you hear the C word you go through a denial period until you go see your doctors,” she said. “I then had a choice of saying, oh poor me, or I could get on with it and get on with my life.”
She chose the latter.
Throughout her treatment, including a lumpectomy and radiation, Tokuno remained positive. Her daughter relayed this in her essay when she wrote, “Although, weakened physically from her demanding treatment, my mother remained undaunted mentally. She held our family together even when her entire life seemed to have fallen apart. From this humbling experience, I gained a greater appreciation for my mother and her determination to live a normal life in an extraordinary situation.”
Tokuno has been cancer-free for three years now and continues to take Tomoxicin and receive MRI’s on an annual basis. On Oct. 18, she proudly walked the runway at Downtown Seattle Macy’s along with 14 other cancer survivors.
“I can’t thank Macy’s enough for their help in this cause,” Tokuno said. For Deven, her mother’s strength and endurance remains an inspiration. “She is a survivor,” she wrote in the essay. “Someone who has overcome and who will continue to persevere. She is my hero.”
Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.
