TLC Star Shauna Rae, 23-Year-Old Trapped in 8-Year-Old’s Body, Shows Off Outfit She Made for People Like Her: Cancer Survivor Turns Challenges Into Purpose
TLC Star Shauna Rae, 23-Year-Old Trapped in 8-Year-Old’s Body, Shows Off Outfit She Made for People Like Her: Cancer Survivor Turns Challenges Into Purpose
TLC reality star and cancer survivor Shauna Rae, 23, recently showed off her latest effort to make everyday challenges a little easier for people with disabilities. On Instagram, she modeled a sparkly new outfit she designed for people with smaller bodies like hers.
"I wanted to show y'all my outfit without the flair and then with heels (and skates)," she wrote, adding, "I am currently working on sizing for 5'4" and below and the feminine body, if you are interested."
Shauna struck strong poses in her flaired pants and crop top, even rolling by on a pair of pink roller skates.
Because of her tiny stature, Shauna has had to regularly adjust her own clothing to fit her 3-feet, 10-inch frame. It’s been a big part of her life documented on her reality show “I Am Shauna Rae,” also airing on the Discovery+ app. She has talked a lot about wanting to design clothing for people like her, so they don’t have to deal with the same struggles. And now she’s doing it.
Her condition is known as pituitary dwarfism, caused by insufficient human growth hormones in the body a result of treatment she received for brain cancer as a child. But, as Shauna preaches, it doesn't mean she has to be limited in her style and self-expression.
Shauna’s Fight for Fashion Equity
Shauna, who reaches 276,000 followers on her Instagram account, is providing a much-needed community for people who face similar health issues or daily challenges.
Her new line of clothing is known as adaptive apparel, or clothing designed for people with disabilities. This new trend in fashion is growing and making life easier for many people, as well as offering fashion choices that are stylish and modern.
Adaptive apparel is an equitable fashion trend because it rejects the notion of a default body type or ability level.
For example, a person who uses a wheelchair may need a pair of pants with a longer inseam to conform to being seated all the time. Likewise, some people with disabilities or physical limitations may find buttons and zippers a challenge to use, so adaptive apparel may also feature magnetic closures.
A person whose medical condition or treatment requires the use of ports (a small device placed under the skin to receive chemotherapy drugs) or colostomy bags (used to collect waste from the body through an opening in the abdomen) can now find shirts designed with easy access panels. Adaptive footwear is stylish and safe, but can be worn without requiring the wearer to use their hands to tie knots or pull on zippers.
Shauna Rae poses for her TLC show.
Shauna Rae's Battle with Cancer
Shauna Rae's pituitary dwarfism is a result of an early battle with cancer. When she was only six months old, doctors at the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh made a surprising diagnosis for a child so young: grade 4 malignant glioma, a cancerous brain tumor. Shauna Rae fought it with chemotherapy and surgery, a journey that lasted three and half years until she was declared cancer free.
Beating the disease was an achievement. According to an article in Cancer Management and Research, this cancer is quite rare: "In the U.S., the annual incidence of primary malignant gliomas is approximately five cases per 100,000 people."
But Shauna's battle was not quite over. Shauna's growth was severely stunted it was clear that she was not meeting milestones of her peers.
Around age four or five, she said, her mom realized that Shauna was "significantly shorter" than the other kids in kindergarten, so they went back to the endocrinologist at Children's Hospital. "My pituitary gland was rendered almost dormant," Shauna said. At that point, she started taking growth hormones.
"I was on and off hormones throughout my childhood," Shauna told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview. At age 16, she stopped taking hormones and realized her growth was stunted permanently. "I was stuck," she said.
Nevertheless, she has carved out a powerful presence for herself on her reality show, which documents her attempts to pursue a normal life while living in a smaller body. Viewers can watch as she learns to drive, finds a job, and even investigates her ongoing health issues, including her ability to have children. Throughout the show, now in its second season, it’s clear that Shauna has successfully formed important, supportive friendships and romantic relationships.
The Power of Finding Joy
In taking charge of her appearance and her fashion choices, Shauna Rae is providing a terrific example of the impact finding joy and purpose in your passions.
Dr. Zuri Murell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, talked to SurvivorNet about how essential it is for cancer patients and survivors to maintain an outlook that uplifts and sustains them. "I believe that a positive attitude is what’s really important," he says.
Speaking to SurvivorNet, Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist and author, emphasizes the importance of positive thinking for cancer survivors. Part of establishing that positive mindset, she believes, is locating sources of joy in their lives.
"How do they find a sense of meaning in their lives? What does it mean for them to feel that they’ve achieved something?" she asks. "And so promoting these positive sort of constructs and actions and activities and emotions in their lives is a way, and I think a very important resource and oasis for building positive mental health."
