Breast Cancer Previvor Sarafina El-Badry Nance Opens Up About Journey to Motherhood

Plus, the 2022 Swim Search finalist discusses the pivotal role of community in her health journey.

Sarafina El-Badry Nance / Courtesy of Sarafina El-Badry Nance

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer in their lifetimes. Aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among U.S. women. This October, SI Swimsuit is committed to providing resources for breast cancer patients while sharing the stories of warriors who have been impacted by the disease. For more information, click here.

At the start of 2025, Sarafina El-Badry Nance opened up to SI Swimsuit about her journey to parenthood. As a breast cancer previvor, the astrophysicist and women’s health advocate opted to pursue IVF as a way to reduce the risk of passing on genetic conditions to her future children.

When she was 23, Nance’s father was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer, and at the time, learned he was a carrier of the BRCA2 gene mutation. After getting tested herself, Nance discovered she was also a carrier. Due to her 87% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, Nance opted to undergo a double mastectomy at the age of 26. The surgery reduced her risk to less than 5%.

In order to ensure her family’s lineage with cancer does not get passed on to her children, Nance has been working with Spring Fertility, where she underwent her second round of IVF in February. Her egg retrieval resulted in two BRCA-negative embryos, so Nance and her partner, Taylor, now have four total BRCA-negative chromosomally normal embryos. The two are planning to do an embryo transfer in order to start their family in 2026.

Taylor Nielsen and Sarafina El-Badry Nance / Courtesy of Sarafina El-Badry Nance

“[Right now] we’re just getting ready for that and I’m trying to wrap my mind around what it’s going to be like to be a mom,” Nance, now 32, tells SI Swimsuit. “But we’re very excited!”

Back in January of this year, Nance shared how grueling the IVF process was on her both mentally and physically. As she prepares for the embryo transfer next year, the 2022 Swim Search finalist is making sure to priorirtize both her emotional and physical well-being.

“ I am trying to work out pretty much every day,” she says. “I’ve been getting really into Peloton kettlebell workouts. I was a competitive tennis player in college, so I’m playing tennis a bunch and running, really trying to just maximize this time to get as fit and strong as I can.”

As for her mental health, Nance goes to therapy weekly, where she talks through her fears about impending parenthood. She is also building a support structure to lean on postpartum, including her girlfriends and a team of midwives and night nurses.

Leveraging her community

Community has long been an important component of Nance’s public health journey, whether that was seeking out others going through similar experiences when she learned of her BRCA2 gene mutation or, more recently, reaching out to mom friends as she approaches parenthood. That solid support system extends to her medical team, too.

“It’s literally been everything,” Nance says of having the right team of doctors in her corner. “I think that is the single most important thing that has made this so much less stressful than it could have been and helped me feel consistently empowered and like I am making the right decisions. People who will help guide me, but also like back me up, that’s been huge. I really cannot emphasize that enough.”

Sarafina El-Badry Nance / Courtesy of Sarafina El-Badry Nance

Nance points out that social media is a powerful tool to connect with others who may be going through a similar diagnosis. Leveraging that community is a great way to understand what you may potentially face in your own journey. Additionally, she suggests interviewing surgeons and doctors to find the right fit, and really doing your own research ahead of any procedure or appointment in order to be an informed patient.

“ I cannot tell you the number of times that I’ve heard, for example, someone waking up after a mastectomy and being shocked to learn that they have lost all sensation in their chest because their doctor didn’t tell them ahead of time that that was going to happen,” she explains.

When it came to her own mastectomy, Nance interviewed a total of eight surgeons before finding the right fit, and several doctors wouldn’t even speak with her because she did not have an active breast cancer diagnosis at the time. Nance advises listening to your gut when it comes to choosing a medical team, as your intuition will not steer you wrong.

“ I can tell you firsthand, going into surgery, whether it was for my mastectomy or for IVF, and trusting my medical team, I could honestly just relax because I knew that they would do the best thing for me when I wasn’t able to make decisions for myself,” she says.

Helping others to feel empowered

In sharing both her breast cancer previvorship and IVF journeys publicly, Nance hopes to help encourage other women to take control of their own health. She believes that storytelling is an incredibly powerful vehicle for change, and in creating a dialogue around our experiences, we can help others to feel seen.

“ I think sometimes, especially with women’s health, it can be pretty taboo to talk about it, although of course, the cultural zeitgeist is changing around that, but it’s slow going,” Nance says. “Being able to voice these things that I’ve gone through, I hope that it just helps others consider them and hopefully improve their lives going forward.”

Sarafina El-Badry Nance / Courtesy of Sarafina El-Badry Nance

Nance knows firsthand how empowering it feels to take charge of your own health. She also understands how daunting it can be to face something like a preventative double mastectomy head on, but she is proud of herself for continuing to make choices that give her the best chance of living a long and healthy life.

 “I was so worried about feeling like my body was my body afterwards,” she says of going into her preventative surgery. “... So I think being able to go back and say, ‘Not only is your body gonna feel like yours, but you’re gonna still be able to do all the things you love.’ My work with SI has been so cool because I never would’ve envisioned that this new but same body would be able to do this. I think that’s just really powerful to show that change is inevitable. Our bodies change regardless over time, but that doesn’t make them any less powerful and beautiful and strong and resilient and I think that’s actually the beautiful thing about bodies.”

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epzmb0pcez0mvb.jpg. Community Support Guide. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epzrfe5pbhp511.jpg. PINKTOBER resources EDITED AGAIN. Breast Self-Exam How To. https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/v1759326461/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/si_swimsuit/01k6g0epx2cbb70y4kje.jpg. Resources for POC