Live Love, Believe in the Cure: Local Business Makes Post-Mastectomy Products Available for the Poor
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2017) A breast cancer diagnosis can be terrifying, but to be told a breast or both breasts must be removed for survival can be devastating for a woman, especially for one living in a part of the world where access to prostheses or reconstructive surgeries are nearly an unaffordable possibility.
Owners of the Broward-based business A Fitting Experience Mastectomy Shoppe, Inc. are making life easier for breast cancer survivors in the countries of Jamaica and Nicaragua who have had mastectomies. Through the international relief and development organization Food For The Poor, dozens of women will receive medical-grade external silicone breast prostheses, post-surgical mastectomy bras and lightweight breast forms.
“We could have donated these external breast prostheses and post-surgical mastectomy bras to a local charity, but we chose Food For The Poor because we want these items to be distributed internationally,” said Beth Becker-Agami, President of A Fitting Experience Mastectomy Shoppe, Inc. “We know there are women in the world who do not have access to the opportunities we have here and we want to help them too.”
A Fitting Experience Mastectomy Shoppe, Inc. is fully accredited to provide post-mastectomy care and was established in 1997. Located at 2950 North State Road 7, Margate, Fla., the shop provides personalized, professional and discreet fittings for breast cancer survivors in South Florida. Becker-Agami says her mother, a breast cancer survivor, founded the business more than two decades ago because she wanted to help others. Now she and co-owner Goldie Cole have been doing the same for the past 19 years.
“It feels great to be able to give back, to be able to give a woman her body back,” said Cole. “Femininity and sensuality are important for a woman, and we’re helping women who have had a mastectomy to regain her self-esteem and her confidence to go on with her daily activities.”
Half of the donated items from A Fitting Experience Mastectomy Shoppe, Inc. will be sent to the Jamaica Cancer Society in Kingston, which works closely with facilities providing medical care for women with cervical, uterine and breast cancer. The other half will be sent to Managua, Nicaragua, where the highly anticipated donation will be distributed to the Hospital de la Mujer Bertha Calderón by the American Nicaraguan Foundation.
“Medical care and treatment is often minimal or underfunded in the countries we serve, we are so very thankful to have gotten this life-transforming donation,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “It’s not the kind of gift that Food For For The Poor often receives, but it is one that will make a world of a difference in the lives of the women recovering from a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. We are grateful.”
“I love knowing that we can make a difference in the life of a breast cancer survivor, to help her not feel down or depressed, which can easily happen. We want her to feel good about herself, because a woman feels good when she looks good,” said Becker-Agami.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. Over the last 10 years, fundraising and other administrative costs averaged less than 5 percent of our expenses; more than 95 percent of all donations went directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Wanda Wright
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6079
[email protected]