'Bachelor' alum Lesley Murphy shares photo of her chest following double mastectomy

Logan Sowa

She was a contestant on Sean Lowe's season of the 'Bachelor' and has since launched herself into her travel blog, The Road Les Traveled. But what 29-year-old Lesley Murphy wasn't quite expecting this year was to find out that she was BRCA2-positive, the rare gene mutation that puts you at a higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

But once she knew -- she set in motion preventative measures to keep herself safe.

On March 8th, International Women's Day, Lesley revealed that she'd made the choice to get a double mastectomy. She said of the decision: "I have lots of life to live and potential cancerous cells aren't welcome here."

To put the risk Lesley faced into perspective, Cancer.org says that while 12 percent of women in the general population will develop breast cancer in their lives, that risk jumps to 55-65 percent if they have the harmful BRCA1 mutation, and 45 percent if they inherit BRCA2. And while the numbers are smaller for ovarian cancer, the risks jump an equal measure for women who inherit these genes. (Read more here.)

And now she's bravely shared the first photo of her chest post-surgery, thanking her mother for everything she's done to help her through the process.

View this post on Instagram

My Sunday best, or what I could manage to put on today with limited arm movements.🤷🏼‍♀️My mom washed and dried my hair today. She dresses me in the mornings. She also measures my drains twice daily which are the tubes you see coming out of my lovely red apron I never take off. She's the freaking best. She slept in my hospital room and bed at home for the first few nights, helping me in and out of bed and giving me meds at horrid hours to control the pain. I have to sleep on my back in the exact same position every night. Sometimes when I make the wrong movements it feels like my chest is detaching from my body, but all in all, I think my upper half is healing nicely! Sure, it's sunken in and lumpy because what you see are deflated expanders that were put in which will gradually get filled every 2-3 weeks as I get ready for reconstructive surgery. Hopefully by then the permanent marker will be off my body😂I feel lucky because my surgeons only made one vertical incision on the lower half of both breasts while saving skin & nipple. So while all breast tissue is (hopefully) gone, I retained some of the old me! Happy Sunday. God is good.🙌🏻💞 #LesleysBreasties #LesNipsBRCAintheBud #BreastCancerAwareness #FightLikeAGirl

A post shared by Lesley • The Road Les Traveled (@lesleyannemurphy) on Apr 16, 2017 at 7:56pm PDT

Lesley's mother fought and survived breast cancer a few years ago, and this was a big reason Lesley decided to get tested. She's now documented the experience with the help of family and friends.

"Sometimes when I make the wrong movements it feels like my chest is detaching from my body, but all in all, I think my upper half is healing nicely!" She wrote.

See also: Woman credits viral lemon video with early breast cancer diagnosis

As she shared her experience, Lesley consistently called out that "knowledge is power," and used the hashtag #FightLikeAGirl. It's clear that she's hoping her story will inspire people to get tested early and be more proactive about their health -- and is using her platform for good. As such, she's had an outpouring of love and support on her social accounts.

Our hats go off to her, too. Thanks for your story and strength, Lesley -- and here's to healing quickly so you can get back out there traveling soon!

Related: Lesley Murphy's best travel Instagrams

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