These Sarafina Nance SI Swimsuit Photos Are Straight Out of a Summer Daydream

Remarkable. Courageous. Hopeful. These words don’t even begin to describe the amazing person SI Swimsuit model Sarafina Nance is. She embodies all the things a fighter should, showcasing her undeniable resilience along with her untouchable grit.

As an astrophysicist, Nance exemplifies that brains can match beauty, and this beauty could especially be seen in her SI Swimsuit 2022 debut feature in the Dominican Republic.

After learning that she inherited the BRCA2 gene mutation—a mutation that increases one’s risk of breast cancer—Nance underwent a double mastectomy for preventative care. She did so not only to get ahead of her medical journey, but also to allow herself to trust her gut while making the best decision for her own health and wellness.

“What I learned through that process is it’s easy to think, when you’re diagnosed with a mutation like this, that things are sort of happening to you,” the 2022 Swim Search finalist divulged. “Being able to reclaim my agency by choosing to make decisions that protected me, my health, my body, my future, really shifted my mindset.”

Undergoing such an intense process taught her what it means to “reclaim her agency,” especially when it comes to searching for the right doctor.

“I think what has made a big difference for me is finding a medical team that I trust. I won’t settle for the first doctor I find,” Nance added. “I need to know they’re really invested in me, that they see me as a whole person, not just a patient. That was a big part of the process for me, to really feel like I was advocating for myself.”

She also learned the staggering fact that people of color are at a higher risk of breast cancer diagnoses. This alarming fact made the Egyptian-American realize that more resources should go to uncovering why those statistics are the way they are, as well as what people of color can do to prevent this diagnosis.

“Rates of breast cancer among people of color, especially Black women, are three times as high. Communities of color are the most impacted, and that’s where a lot of research funding and visibility needs to go,” Nance noted.

Now, the SI Swimsuit model is focused on living her life to the fullest alongside her partner Taylor Nielsen. The two are currently undergoing an IVF process to prepare for when they are ready to start their pregnancy journey. The process may be difficult, but there’s no one else Nance would rather be doing it with.

“After undergoing IVF and retrieving my eggs, my team at Spring Fertility will create embryos and then perform biopsies to determine which ones carry the mutation,” Nance said. “When my partner, Taylor, and I are ready to get pregnant, we’ll transfer an embryo that doesn’t carry the mutation. I feel incredibly empowered by reclaiming agency over my BRCA diagnosis for my future children, [as] our future child won’t have to worry about carrying the BRCA mutation and our family’s long lineage of cancer will end with me.”

Nance now sets out to empower other individuals to take control of their health and wellness, as doing so can help save the lives of not just one generation, but of many more generations to come.

“In a country in which reproductive health is often taboo and reproductive rights are increasingly jeopardized, I hope to empower women that they are their own best advocate—and spread the word that every woman deserves access to excellent reproductive care,” Nance concluded.