Nadaline Matos tells PEOPLE that attending a fashion show “honestly felt like where I should be” after coming out the other side of her cancer journey
Credit: Sophie Mannes for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
NEED TO KNOW
- 19-year-old cancer patient Nadaline Matos had the experience of a lifetime when she was invited to a New York Fashion Week show
- The designer, Cyril Verdavainne, also offered to create a custom dress for Matos
- “It was a reminder to me that I got through what I did get through and my journey,” Matos tells PEOPLE of the experience
Nineteen-year-old cancer patient Nadaline Matos had a New York Fashion Week experience that most teenagers can only dream of.
The New Jersey native was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, when she was 17, right before she entered her senior year of high school. What was supposed to be an exciting time in her life quickly turned into one rife with challenges. Throughout long hospitalizations and surgery, Matos’ family of seven lived on one income.
Despite these struggles, Matos graduated high school, attended prom and was able to ring the bell marking the end of her cancer treatment. She also began working with the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund, a non-profit organization that helps families tackling childhood cancer by providing comprehensive financial, emotional and practical support.
Through the Fund, Matos met fashion designer Cyril Verdavainne, who founded his eponymous fashion line Verdavainne in 2018. Verdavainne not only invited Matos to attend his show at New York Fashion Week but also offered to design her a custom dress.
Credit: Sophie Mannes for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
A fashion lover from a young age, Matos was thrilled at the opportunity. On Sept. 10, she attended Verdavainne’s spring/summer 2027 show at Cipriani in Manhattan’s Financial District.
She tells PEOPLE that “it honestly felt like where I should be, in a way.”
“It was a reminder to me that I got through what I did get through and my journey,” Matos continues.
The teen says that the experience was “just so cool” and that she “never would’ve thought I would be at a fashion show with so many nice people.”
Credit: Sophie Mannes for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
Matos was able to connect with Verdavainne at the show, where they began brainstorming ideas for her custom dress. When he asked which look she was most drawn to, Matos pointed out a blue and yellow gown that had come down the runway.
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“I told him I would really love a dress with yellow, especially because yellow has become my favorite [color],” she tells PEOPLE.
“After going through everything, that being the [cancer] ribbon and just how I’ve always loved yellow … now yellow became one of my favorite colors.”
They decided that once Matos gets her measurements taken, Verdavainne will begin sketching her design.
Credit: Sophie Mannes for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
While Matos says she doesn’t have anywhere to wear her future creation yet, she’s excited to embrace fashion again after dealing with fluctuating weight due to her treatment. She recalls feeling unsure if she’d be able to wear her prom dress because of her illness.
“I had gotten really sick, and I gained a lot of water weight from the medicine, and so I didn’t think I was going to be able to go to prom or fit my dress, and I was just very down about it,” says Matos.
The person who made her prom dress offered to adjust the garment to fit her current measurements, but Matos ended up losing the weight and fitting into the gown.
Two weeks later, she walked in her high school graduation ceremony, a triumph that she credits to her school’s administration and counselors.
“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have graduated. They just helped so much in so many different ways. They always were making sure I was okay, so they had put a tent up for me so I was able to walk because that’s really all I wanted to do,” Matos recalls, her voice breaking with emotion.
“That’s all I wanted to do, go to prom and graduate,” she continues. “Because my senior year meant so much to me, and to go through what I went through, it was very hard. I was not in school as much, and I was genuinely so happy on my graduation day.”
That October, Matos was able to ring the cancer bell to celebrate the end of treatment.
“It was just a big weight off my shoulders,” she reflects. “And I didn’t think at one point that I would be able to get through it, and that day it was just so meaningful, and having my family and all the amazing nurses that I had … everybody [who worked at the hospital] loved their job, and because they loved their job, they helped me get through it.”
Credit: Sophie Mannes for the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund
“I was able to get through it because of my team behind me, and because of my family,” she continues. Matos calls out her mom in particular, whom she calls her “savior.”
“She helped me through everything,” Matos says. “If it wasn’t for my mom, honestly, I wouldn’t know what I’d do. No matter how many times I gave her attitude through it, she never gave up with helping me and pushing me, even if I was stubborn.”
Because of her experience working with hospital staff, Matos has decided to pursue a career as an ultrasound technician.
“While I was in the hospital, there was this one day in particular when I was really sick and the ultrasound technician came in and she was just showing me everything and I just got so fascinated,” she says. Matos also says she became interested in ultrasounds when her mom was pregnant with her younger brother and she would accompany her to doctor’s appointments.
She’s not ready to narrow her focus on just OB-GYN, though. Now, for Matos, the world is her oyster.
“I want to learn everything in a way,” she says. “I would like to go into the program trying to learn everything and figure out what exactly I do want to do.”
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