The Kenyan woman confronting cancer stigma with knitted breast prostheses

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Thika, Kenya – Knitting was a puerility hobby of Mary Mwangi, a gangly and talkative pistillate who runs a tailoring store successful Thika municipality successful Kenya’s Kiambu County. But it was lone successful 2017, erstwhile she was bedridden for 11 months aft having crab treatment, that she picked it up again.

The archetypal clip Mwangi was diagnosed, it was with spine cancer. Housebound and wanting to walk the time, she decided to knit hats, which she ended up donating to crab patients astatine Kenyatta National Hospital.

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Then the adjacent year, successful 2018, her satellite was shaken erstwhile she was diagnosed again – this clip with stage-three bosom cancer.

“I felt similar it was the extremity of maine erstwhile the diagnosis came out,” said the 52-year-old parent of three, who recalls being “terrified” astatine the news.

She isolated herself from friends and household and adjacent turned disconnected her phone. “I told my hubby that I don’t privation to interact with anyone; the satellite felt truthful violent.”

Mwangi had to acquisition a mastectomy – a surgical removal of portion oregon each of a bosom – and 33 sessions of radiotherapy. In all, she was successful attraction for 4 years, losing her hairsbreadth and her savings successful the process.

“I had taken a 1.3-million-Kenyan-shilling (about $10,000) indebtedness to grow my concern arsenic a tailor, and each was swept [away] by treatment,” she lamented.

Added to the carnal and fiscal devastation was the societal discrimination.

Though the mastectomy helped prevention her life, it brought stigma successful her assemblage successful cardinal Kenya, immoderate 40km (24.8 miles) northeast of the superior Nairobi.

“People referred to maine arsenic the pistillate whose breasts were cut,” said Mwangi, who was declared cancer-free successful 2020. “Losing them affects your dignity.”

She soon realised that she wasn’t the lone one: While astatine the crab ward of a section hospital, she noticed different women were hiding their chests nether large scarves and baggy clothes. When she spoke to them, she learned that they, too, had undergone mastectomies.

Although determination are respective crab subsister enactment groups successful Kenya that connection screening and counselling services, immoderate of them for free, experts accidental the nationalist wellness strategy often lacks capable oncology and follow-up care, with galore survivors near to navigate betterment connected their own.

Determined to assistance others similar herself, Mwangi thought of what got her done her illness: knitting. And past she came up with an thought to enactment survivors portion earning money: knitted bosom prostheses made of colourful fabric yarn.

At a crab enactment radical she attended portion ill, 1 of the sessions taught the participants to marque yarn bosom prostheses. Mwangi learned the basics from determination and aboriginal watched tutorials connected YouTube earlier she began practising to cleanable her craft.

“Thank God for knitting. It was a signifier of elemental therapy for me,” Mwangi said. “It took my caput distant from reasoning astir [the cancer].”

Physical and intelligence care

Breast crab is the astir communal crab successful women globally, according to the World Health Organization. Kenya’s National Cancer Institute says it affects much than 6,700 women successful the state each year.

Many acquisition mastectomies and are near searching for prosthetic breasts.

But successful Kenya, 1 silicone prosthetic costs an estimated 22,000 Kenyan shillings ($170) according to Mwangi, making them unaffordable to galore – much than 40 percent of Kenya’s colonisation lives below the planetary poverty enactment of $3 per day, according to the World Bank.

Mwangi sells each prosthetic she knits for 1,500 Kenyan shillings ($11,60).

They travel successful antithetic sizes and colours and are filled with yarn earlier being placed into specially adapted bras with pockets, which are sold separately for betwixt 1,000 ($7.74) and 2,000 Kenyan shillings ($15.49) each.

Mwangi produces astir 50 pieces a week, and to date, has sold astir 600 bosom prostheses, arsenic good arsenic much than 450 knitted hats for crab patients.

She sells her products successful currency astatine her shop, but besides successful bulk to organisations she has partnered with – similar Milele Health, Kenyatta National Hospital and Childhood Cancer Initiative – who past donate them to survivors.

This has helped her rebuild her business, portion besides continuing to assistance those successful need.

Mwangi besides tries to assistance done the New Dawn Cancer Warriors enactment radical she leads, which brings survivors unneurotic to stock their stories.

She recounts the time a 33-year-old subsister called Jane joined the group, astatine archetypal sitting astatine the backmost of the room, excessively tense to speak.

When Mwangi spoke to her privately, she learned that her assurance had dropped since having a mastectomy. So she encouraged her, making her spot that the nonaccomplishment of a bosom does not devalue a woman, and besides donated a knitted prosthesis to assistance her. Slowly, she says, Jane regained her confidence, and aft 5 months, she was sitting astatine the beforehand during radical meetings and contributing. Today, Mwangi says her self-esteem and courageousness person returned.

Joy Kulet, a scientist successful Kenya who sees galore women who person had mastectomies, says knitted prosthetics not lone supply an affordable solution, but besides assistance reconstruct self-confidence.

“Losing a bosom for a pistillate is much than physical; it is psychological,” she said.

‘Knitting gave maine purpose’

In Thika town, the dependable of engaged sewing machines tin beryllium heard from extracurricular Mwangi’s tailoring shop.

Inside, finished apparel bent connected the partition adjacent 2 women focused connected sewing. Once successful a while, they speech jokes and laughter heartily arsenic their experienced hands proceed feeding cloth into their machines.

As the sewing continues, Mwangi sits nearby, knitting a prosthetic breast. When she finishes, she instantly begins stuffing it with wool-like fibre, earlier moving connected to marque different piece.

Beside her, the colourful knitted bosom prostheses are connected show connected a table.

Most of the bosom prostheses Mwangi sells person been made by her, but immoderate – particularly erstwhile she receives large orders – are made by women she’s trained, who she hires to assistance with the knitting.

Since January, Mwangi says she has taught much than 200 women to knit during informal lessons she holds successful her tailoring shop.

“Knitting has not lone saved me, it has besides fixed maine purpose,” said Mwangi.

Among those she has trained is 46-year-old Hannah Nungari Mugo, a erstwhile rootlike trader astatine Thika marketplace and besides a bosom crab survivor.

Mugo underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy successful 2019. As her hairsbreadth fell retired and her assemblage became weak, her hubby took retired a 500,000 Kenyan shilling ($3,800) indebtedness to support them afloat.

“It consumed each the savings we had,” she said.

But similar Mwangi, the stigma that followed was 1 of the worst parts of the experience, she says. In her neighbourhood, radical saw her arsenic “fragile” and excluded her from activities.

“I joined [Mwangi’s] grooming and aft conscionable a fewer weeks, I had the basics,” she said. She present makes astir 7 prostheses a week to merchantability astatine Mwangi’s store, which earns her an income to enactment her family.

The workshops aren’t conscionable for bosom crab survivors. Others struggling with antithetic wellness conditions person besides participated, similar 58-year-old Mary Patricia Karobia, who uses the accidental to stock her ain communicative of stigma and survival.

In 2011, she was diagnosed with liver fibrosis and underwent a palmy liver transplant. But conscionable similar Mwangi and Mugo, favoritism awaited.

“People were whispering that my liver was removed,” she said, recalling that she was excluded from activities and duties astatine women’s events, arsenic she was believed to beryllium excessively anemic to contribute.

She felt marginalised. But past she came crossed Mwangi and her abstraction that enabled women to speech astir their experiences with others going done thing similar, and she was inspired to join.

“I present knit 4 [prostheses] each week,” Karobia said. “Apart from earning maine an income, making prosthetics gives maine joyousness arsenic I americium helping bosom crab survivors regain their self-esteem.”

“The healing travel [from cancer] is unsocial for each individual. For some, it is smooth, but others relapse on the way,” said Kulet, the psychologist, adding that assemblage enactment groups similar Mwangi’s are essential.

“Sharing their communicative is portion of healing,” she said, particularly successful spaces wherever survivors tin stock openly without fearfulness of judgement.

Mwangi considers her enactment to beryllium portion of the larger healing process for bosom crab survivors who person undergone mastectomies. She says she has witnessed improved self-esteem and courageousness successful galore of the women who person acquired the prostheses – thing that makes her proud.

For now, owed to abstraction constraints, Mwangi’s grooming workshops tin lone accommodate 4 radical astatine a time. And financially, she is limited: she can’t registry arsenic a grooming schoolhouse owed to a deficiency of funds; the terms of yarn besides fluctuated a fewer times this twelvemonth – from 450 Kenyan shillings ($3.40) to astir treble that – forcing her to sometimes rise prices.

But she remains hopeful.

“My imagination is to bid arsenic galore crab survivors arsenic imaginable successful Kenya,” she said. She wants them each to person their ain autarkic businesses 1 day, truthful that hopefully, they excessively tin “earn a surviving done knitting”.

This portion was published successful collaboration with Egab.

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