Many breast cancer victims and survivors come across a problem many of us tend to take for granted: They can't always find a bra. Bras catered to women who have had mastectomies are not very accessible and in many cases women have to seek a specialty store just to buy a bra. So I was very happy to hear that in response to a Change.org petition, V__ictoria's Secret has decided to create a line of "survivor bras" specifically for women who have undergone mastectomies.__ Isn't this the best news you've heard all week?
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It all started when a young woman by the name of Allana Maiden and her mother Debbi Barrett, a breast cancer survivor, were preparing for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk this past October. Because Barrett had undergone a mastectomy 21 year ago, she was constantly coming across the discouraging issue of not being able to find a bra–an issue many women who have undergone mastectomies experience.
The petition was posted sometime in mid-January and gained more than 118,000 signatures, which Maiden and Barrett delivered to Tammy Roberts Myers, Vice President of External Communications for Victoria's Secret parent company, The Limited Brands, who not only acknowledged the importance of supporting breast cancer survivors but also expressed a big interest in the idea.
Maiden and her mother reached out to Victoria's Secret because they knew that the lingerie retailer had participated in breast cancer awareness campaigns in the past, like the Think Pink campaign in 2012 that donated more than $1.1 million to cancer groups. They also wanted to look for a brand that was available in most malls. Many mastectomy bras are very difficult to find and buying them online isn't always ideal because of the issue with fit. Maiden's complaint was also that a lot of these bras are not very attractive. They wanted to find a company that was going to create mastectomy bras that were stylish and would help breast cancer survivors feel beautiful again.
We'd all love to hear the day when women no longer suffer from this terrible disease, but in the meantime, it's amazing news to hear that a huge retailer like Victoria's Secret is doing what they can to make these survivors feel a little better about themselves and make their lives much, much easier. We applaud Victoria's Secret!
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