Pat Cleveland was in Paris shooting a L’Oreal commercial in late March when she noticed how bloated and tired she was. She took herself to a hotel doctor, who prescribed drugs for inflammation, but they didn’t help.
She returned to the doctor the next day, where Cleveland, one the first African American cover models who once was a muse for Bill Blass and Halston, learned she had colon cancer. She needed emergency surgery. But exactly how would she pay for it? Her health insurance didn’t cover overseas treatment.
Cleveland’s husband, Paul Ravenstein, started a GoFundMe, and within two days, thanks to the help of some of fashion’s biggest names — Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Zac Posen, Thierry Mugler — the couple was able to raise $100,000 to pay for her care. Cleveland remained for days in intensive care at American Hospital of Paris, where Karl Lagerfeld died a few weeks earlier.
After returning to her home in Burlington County, N.J., Cleveland, 69, began 12 rounds of chemotherapy. During her treatment, she walked the September New York Fashion Week runways for Nicole Miller and Chiara Boni. Cleveland announced on Facebook last week that she’s done with her treatments. She’s now in remission and grateful. “Fashion really saved me,” she said.
We talked to Cleveland, known for her whimsical take on life, about endurance and how fashion helped her maintain inner and outer beauty during the dark days of chemo.
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