The official, national BRA Day USA kick-off will be in New Orleans on October 17th (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please see my September blog post). It would be so cool to see the press conference and especially the flash mob in the neutral ground on St. Charles Avenue! (If any of you are going, send me some photos/video to post.) I'll be in New Orleans in spirit, though I’ll be here in Minnesota. But that's okay. Women all over this country need to hear about breast reconstruction after mastectomy, and often the best place to advocate something is right where you live.
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| "Under Construction" by Pam Evgen |
Obviously breast reconstruction awareness doesn’t begin and end on October 17th, any more than breast cancer awareness ends on the last day of October (fitting it’s Halloween, huh? Kind of an inadvertent, symbolic reminder that breast cancer is a scary proposition, despite it being dressed up in pink ribbons all month). But having the day does offer an opportunity to unite everyone in focusing on one thing at one time. There’s real power in that. Hopefully a woman somewhere who didn’t know she could regain her lost breast will hear BRA Day mentioned on the news or read a newspaper story, and it will start her thinking and asking questions. By year's end, she may have a whole new lease on life. Just what she needed to put the bounce back in her, um… step.
About a month ago, I happened upon some bra art. Yes, bra art. Google it. OMG! Who knew?! It got me thinking. I contacted the nurse educator at our area cancer center, where I was treated, to see if there were any BRA Day plans afoot. Then I contacted the plastic surgery practice that has a doc who performs microsurgical DIEP flap reconstruction.
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| "Mardi Bra" by Pam Evgen |
I’d heard he’d experienced frustration in trying to convince doctors in outlying areas and the Dakotas to inform patients that he was offering another reconstruction option that previously had been unavailable here. Illustrative of an all-too-common problem--local surgeons not telling women about recon techniques other than the ones they perform.
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| "Rhinestone Cowgirls" by Linda Marie |
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| "Phoenix Rising" by Eve Wallinga |
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| "Breast Nest" by Char Hopela |
I would like to announce BRA Day USA - St. Cloud, Minnesota! Art bras will be displayed at area businesses for a couple of weeks, along with an informational poster and brochures, and then will migrate to the central locale on Bra Day. We're not looking to raise money this year, just awareness. We’ll have a lunch, an educational discourse, an art bra exhibit, and some publicity. Since this is our debut in Central Minnesota, we didn’t get too wild. If no one faints this year, maybe we can crank it up next year. I've noticed that in some parts of the country, women are even modeling the art bras!
I’ll keep you abreast of Breastoration - North BRA Day USA developments, in addition to those in New Orleans, of course. Wait 'til you get a load of ALL the bras. Coordinating the art bra part has been challenging, but fun. (Thank you to my NOLA sistah, Pam Evgen, my husband, and my writer's group and everyone else I PLEADED with to make a bra.)
Does this sound like something you might want to do in your hometown next year? You can start with an eye-catching art bra, an educational poster, some Breastoration pamphlets, and a venue willing to display them. You can easily change someone's life. And next year, lets all have our own flash mobs, too, like in New Orleans. But maybe ours won't just be dancing, if you know what I mean, and I know you do.
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| "Show Girls" by Pat Nelson |
