Cansa and Helping Hand knit breast prostheses
The prostheses are knitted to make a difference in the lives of women with breast cancer unable to afford silicone prostheses or breast reconstruction.
Helping Hand and the Cancer Society of South Africa (Cansa) joined forces to knit breast prostheses for women who have lost their breasts due to breast cancer.
“The purpose of Helping Hand’s annual Knitting Needle Project is to use people’s love and ability to knit and crochet to make a difference in the community,” said Benette Welman, Project organiser at Solidarity Helping Hand and the FroueVonds.
“In 2020, we made fiddle sleeves for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
“This year, in collaboration with Cansa and the FroueVonds, we are tackling the Knit-for-Cansa project under the banner of #BosomFriends,” Welman said.
She said the FroueVonds, “intentionally misspelled to emphasise that not everything always goes according to plan, was established in 2019 within Helping Hand to empower women”.
Welman said from now until October, the public can work with industrious Helping Hand volunteers and seniors nationwide having fun knitting and crocheting.
“The prostheses are knitted to make a difference in the lives of women with breast cancer unable to afford silicone prostheses or breast reconstruction,” she said.
“This project is very close to my heart. It is hard to see someone struggling along the tiring, long road of breast cancer.
“Despite all the emotional and mental ups and downs that come with the disease, it is traumatic for a woman to lose her hair and her breasts.
“We want to make the burden easier and alleviate the suffering with a ray of hope in the form of a knitted breast prosthesis. By doing so, we try to restore dignity and give hope to women with breast cancer,” said Welman.
Gerda Strauss, head of services at Cansa, said they are proud to form a partnership with Helping Hand through this “wonderful initiative” to support patients with breast cancer.
“Every prosthesis we donate to breast cancer patients is sincerely appreciated and restores the dignity of these women,” said Strauss.
“The total cost of the package required to knit one prosthesis is R60. The package contains synthetic wool, filling material as well as the pattern to knit or crochet the prosthesis.
“These packages are then distributed to any volunteer or member of the public who wants to knit with us,” said Strauss.
She said the public can get involved by contributing financially to the project and enabling Helping Hand to purchase and distribute the packages. A one-off donation can be made at www.helpendehand.co.za with KNITCANSA as reference.
For more information about the project, or to knit or crochet, send an e-mail to frouevonds@helpendehand.co.za.
In October, which is also Breast Cancer Month, Helping Hand will deliver the prostheses at Cansa offices nationwide to distribute them to women in need.
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