Mama Cax – Model, Activist, Prosthetic Wearer and Honored by Google

On February 8, 2019, exactly four years ago, 30-year-old Mama Cax made her catwalk debut during New York Fashion Week. Not spectacular, really – but Cax’s life was anything but that.

Cacsmy Brutus was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1989, but then grew up in Haiti. When she was 14, she was diagnosed with bone sarcoma, a tumor in the skeleton, and lung cancer. Doctors then gave her three weeks to live.

Two years later Mama Cax had a hip replacement, which failed and resulted in the amputation of her right leg. She later said that it took her several years to regain her confidence and that she hid her prosthetic leg for several years.

She felt really bad about it for a while, she told MSNBC in 2019. But at some point, she decided to make the best of it and change the way people with disabilities interact. She started wearing colorful prosthetic legs and incorporating them into her outfits.

A modeling agency soon approached her and wanted to book Cax for her campaign. In 2017, she appeared in her first commercial and soon after signed with New York modeling agency JAG Models. She walked the catwalk in shows for Chromat and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty, among others, and later worked for advertising campaigns such as Tommy Hilfiger and Sephora.

This also made Cax an outspoken activist for the rights of people with disabilities in fashion. At castings, she wants to be “the missing puzzle piece in a room full of beautiful women,” she told MSNBC. The New Yorker celebrated fashion on Instagram and consciously integrated her disability, for example using her various prostheses – or even without them at all.

In the interview, she also talked about her hobbies: swimming, yoga, wheelchair basketball and climbing. Cax was asked if climbing wasn’t incredibly difficult for her. “It’s literally hard for everyone,” she replied.

While in England in December 2019, Cax was hospitalized with severe abdominal pain and blood clots in her lungs, where she passed away on December 16, 2019.

And in case you’re wondering why your search engine looks different now, today Google is honoring Mama Cax with a colorful doodle.

(lacquer)