Meet Kimberlilly L'Amour from Lexington, KY
At the age of 47 (July 24th 2015), Kimberlilly L'Amour was diagnosed with Stage 2 Rectal Cancer, During the course of the first part of her fight, she had to undergo multiple chemo/radiation treatments before her scheduled surgery, but on November 11, 2015, she underwent a life threatening medical emergency, but to the surprise of the doctor, she successfully had pulled through. After seeing her life flash in front of her eyes, She made a choice that would alter her life even further as she chose to fully embrace the colostomy bag after some online research. Kimberlilly knew it came with a negative stigma but, she received it with a positive light and took full ownership of it. She did now allow cancer to strip her humanity away.
And so she went forward, with a new outlook on life.
Since then Kimberlilly has been performing burlesque for over a year and a half.
Kimberlilly, as a black woman at the age of 51, she tells us she is still evolving with the relationship with her body, Once she spoke her truth at the age of 27 and told her story of experiencing childhood abuse, she was able to begin the healing process. She describes herself as a grownup kid with some wisdom, who has been here for a while and is focused on healing, growing, living, loving, and inspiring people. She states, “there is still joy amidst the many hardships we all go through. We still smile, laugh, cry, love, and the gift of life after cancer, has helped me to become a better person to myself and everyone around me.
I’m just a broken vase glueing myself back together with gold”
The 9th annual International Ohio Burlesque Festival will be her 3rd festival and she is so excited to come to Cleveland to showcase her truth on Friday Night 2nd August at The Beachland Ballroom and we could not be more ecstatic to have her join us this year.
You can find her on instagram under @cancerwarriorcolostomyqueen
We are honored to have Kimberlilly L'Amour <3