Miss America contestant to undergo double mastectomy

She did not win but Miss America contestant Allyn Rose has conveyed a message about breast cancer prevention using her primary tool as a beauty queen: her body.

The 24-year-old Miss DC plans to undergo a double mastectomy after she struts in a bikini and flaunts her roller skating talent. She is removing her breasts as a preventative measure to reduce her chances of developing the disease that killed her mother, grandmother, and great aunt.

“My mom would have given up every part of her body to be here for me, to watch me in the pageant,” she said between rehearsals and preliminary competitions at Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip. “If there’s something that I can do to be proactive, it might hurt my body, it might hurt my physical beauty, but I’m going to be alive.”