This photo courtesy Miss America Organization shows Miss DC, Allyn Rose, during the Evening Wear portion of preliminary competition at the 2013 Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013. Win or lose, Saturday's Miss America competition will be Rose's last pageant. The 24-year-old plans to undergo a double mastectomy after the event as a preventative measure to reduce her chances of developing the disease that killed her mother, grandmother and great aunt. (AP Photo/Courtesy Miss America Organization)
January 11, 2013 - 12:29 AM
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - A 24-year-old contestant in this year's Miss America pageant is delivering a message about breast cancer prevention.
Miss DC Allyn Rose plans to undergo a double mastectomy after Saturday's contest — win or lose.
She is removing both breasts as a preventative measure to reduce her chances of developing the disease that killed her mother, grandmother and great aunt.
If crowned, the university student could become the first Miss America not endowed with the Barbie silhouette associated with beauty queens.
Her decision is drawing criticism as well as praise. And this kind of pre-emptive surgery has divided the medical community as well.
Todd Tuttle, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Minnesota, says that for someone in her early 20s to have the procedure is "very unusual."
News from © The Associated Press, 2013