Fort Worth doctor who survived cancer walks runway in New York Fashion Week

Fort Worth breast cancer survivor in New York Fashion Week

Lauren Zakalik, WFAA 11:05 AM. CST February 07, 2018

Dr. Emily McLaughlin has had plenty of "bucket list" experiences, from traveling to Italy to meeting Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith.

And she's about to have one more of those experiences she never saw coming.

"No, no. Are you looking at me right now?" the doctor joked. "Do I look like someone who belongs on the runway at New York Fashion Week? No."

But that is exactly where the Fort Worth plastic surgeon will find herself Sunday, walking a runway with a very special group of models.

Ana Ono is the fashion line. It's a lingerie and loungewear line made for-- and modeled by-- breast cancer patients and survivors.

"Those gorgeous warriors, these women—I get chills talking about this—are strutting down a runway with people cheering and applauding them," Dr. McLaughlin said.

This year, the doctor will be one of them. After years of performing breast reconstructions, she herself was diagnosed.

"That's part of my job. Routine as can be," she said of the surgeries. "What's not routine is finding out you have breast cancer."

McLaughlin is now cancer-free and has found new purpose in breast cancer advocacy and fundraising, including her annual fundraising event called "BoobieQue" featuring beer and BBQ. It has raised $200,000 for breast cancer support and research over the past two years in Fort Worth.

Through her new-found advocacy is also how she met Ana Ono designer Dana Donofree, who asked her to walk the runway this year.

"I'm not a lingerie model. I'm not a model. I'm a girl that had breast cancer that is willing to do whatever it takes to empower other women to raise awareness, to raise money and hopefully one day to make it go away," McLaughlin said.

Dr. McLaughlin believes so much in the beauty and the power of that fashion show that she told WFAA her next plan is to bring that fashion show to Fort Worth.

The fashion show raises thousands of dollars for research; Donofree told WFAA she hopes it'll raise $100,000 this weekend.

And though it's out of McLaughlin's comfort zone, the runway is exactly where she needs to be to continue fighting.