A woman who has alopecia and had a double mastectomy is showing off her body and says she's "so proud" of all it has been through. Marisa Kimmel, 29, was diagnosed with alopecia - disease that causes hair loss - at the age of nine and was made to feel like "she'd never fit in" due to the bald patches on her head. After years of trying to cover up her hair loss at high school, Marisa finally decided to "set herself free" and cut all of her hair off at the age of 19. Six months after giving birth to her son, Abraham, now four, Marisa underwent genetic testing due to a history of breast cancer in her family. She discovered she had an 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 40 to 60 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer. Instead of taking her chances, Marisa decided to "take back control of her body" and have a double mastectomy. She continued to breastfeed her son for the following two years, before deciding she was ready for the procedure in January 2021. In the lead up to her surgery, Marisa spent time planning the tattoos she was going to have done post-surgery. Something she says made her feel like she "had a say" in what her body looked after surgery and allowed her to "create" a body that feels most like 'her'. Marisa now bares her body on TikTok and hopes to inspire others to be strong. Marisa, a photographer, from Bay City, Michigan, US, said: "I want people to realise that they’re never alone in the hard stuff. "You have to find a community that is ready to hold you when you can’t be there for yourself. "Social media can be hard, you compare and see everyone’s highlights. "And so for me I really try and share all the sides of myself. "I know how worth it is to keep choosing myself and find peace with the cards I was given." Marisa spent her younger years trying to come to terms with her alopecia, but felt it was controlling her life. As she got older, she learnt to accept and trust herself and she stopped looking for validation from others. She said: "When I was diagnosed with alopecia, I was never given that much information on it as a nine-year-old but just followed the shampoos and steroids. "The dermatologist at that time made me feel like it was my fault, I didn’t realise how much I internalised that for the last 20 years. "By the age of 14 I was getting hundreds of steroid shots in my head to try and look like others around me. "It wasn’t until I started high school that I Googled alopecia and started looking at the images of others. "The photos that I saw were the most heartbreaking photos. Some were bald, some had bald spots, but everyone looked miserable. "So, I thought that was my future, that’s what I would be - not having a good life. "I decided to stop all treatment and giving myself the false hope. "At high school I would have to wake up hours before school to feel as comfortable as I could in front of my peers - spending hours on my hair covering my bald spots. "It wasn’t until 19 that I finally decided to cut it all off. "I had about 50 percent of my hair left and my boyfriend at the time, Drew, now my husband, shaved my hair for me. "That was the first time I trusted myself. I felt free." After getting rid of her hair, Marisa and Drew moved to Chicago, US, when they were 20. It was there that she felt she could 'breathe' and began to choose what was right for her. Marisa said: "It was a snowball of choosing me and what felt right for me and my life. "I finally just felt that I could be myself. "I could just breathe, and my alopecia felt less important and a smaller worry. "I gained a perspective of what actually mattered in life. "I wanted to feel and be beautiful, so I started surrounding myself with people that accepted for me who I was." Marisa gave birth to her son, Abraham, a few years later, and the family moved back to Michigan, US. After finding out breast cancer ran in her family, Marisa decided to get genetic testing done to determine her chances of developing the cancer. She was told she had an 80 percent chance of getting the disease. Marisa said: "Two weeks before I turned 26, I had genetic testing done. "The doctor called me two or three weeks later saying I had to come in. "My percentage for breast cancer was 80 percent and ovarian cancer 40 to 60 percent. "The options were do nothing for six months then have breast and pelvis exams, or I could do preventative surgery and it took me back to my alopecia - I wanted to take control. "So, I decided to have the surgery and take those percentages and have a chance to influence them. "They were genetics that I couldn’t control but I had an option to face them. "I breastfed Abraham for two years and grieved the fact that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to breast feed again and I tried to prepare myself for a new body. "In January 2021 I decided I was done breastfeeding and ready for surgery. "I decided to go completely flat and not have breast reconstruction. "In those two years leading up to my surgery, I planned out my tattoos across my chest." Marisa is now looking ahead to her ovarian surgery on the 21st of November - which involves removing both of her fallopian tubes. The procedure will leave her unable to pass on her genetics and get pregnant. She said: "I'm having my tubes removed on November 21st – with that you are no longer able to get pregnant. "It’s a decision that I can’t undo once I have that surgery. "So, it feels heavy and full of all the emotions possible. "But it also feels right, and I’ve learned from my past that those hard decisions you sometimes have to make. "The other side of that is more freedom."