On August 5, 2012, Nici Mayer was your average mom spending the day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with her family.

After a fun day on the rides, however, she noticed her neck was unusually sore, and by the next morning, a large mass had formed on the side of her neck. A visit to the hospital revealed the worst possible news: Mayer had stage-four Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood-borne cancer that had spread throughout her upper body. While most people would have been fazed by such a grim diagnosis, Mayer was determined to fight—and fight hard. “I never think about what could go wrong,” she shares. “I think about how we’re going to fix it.”  

While still undergoing chemotherapy, Mayer and her mother opened Mirror Mirror (mirrormirrorone.com), a local women’s clothing boutique that donates one percent of all its profits to cancer research. She is currently developing her wig program, Fight Pretty, to provide area cancer patients with high-quality wigs; she also plans to fit and style the wigs in a pampering, salon-like experience. Mayer lost her own hair after her second round of chemo, and she remembers how much a good wig helped reassert her confidence and sense of normalcy. Last November, Mayer underwent a bone marrow transplant, and she is currently cancer free. She credits her survival to a positive outlook and the love and support of her family, especially her mother. “She’s my rock,” Mayer says.

For more about Nici Mayer and other local happenings and information, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style – El Dorado County Foothills edition. Click on the Get Your Copy link for some of our newsstand locations; click on the Subscribe link to become a regular subscriber, or to order a copy of this issue or one of our back issues.