From bosom friends to bra superheroes
After helping each other through breast cancer surgery, friends Kate Courtman and Sarah Mountford realised there were lots of women in their position who needed a different type of support...
When Kate Courtman went for her first bra fitting after having a double mastectomy and reconstruction, she had no idea what to expect.
“I thought it would be fairly straightforward, but when I told the assistant about my surgery, she had this shocked look on her face, as if I had death stamped on my forehead,” says Kate, 37, a lawyer.
“The manager came in and they both seemed quite stressed and unsure what to suggest.
“In the end, the bra they gave me was frilly and cone-shaped. It looked like something my grandmother might have worn.”
Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2018, after noticing pain in her breast.
“I had no obvious symptoms,” says Kate, who lives in North London with her husband Dominic, 47, and their sons Max, six, and Alex, three.
“One morning, my older son accidentally hit me with a toy. I remember jumping back as I thought he’d pricked me with something sharp. When I felt around my breast I could feel a tiny, hard lump.”
Kate’s mum had died of breast cancer in her 50s and it was one of Kate’s greatest fears she would get it too. She went to a breast clinic and was diagnosed with an aggressive tumour.
“After diagnosis I was supposed to go back to work but I didn’t as I was in shock. I was wandering around the shops when I bumped into a friend and told her the news.
Amazingly, she said she had another friend who’d just been diagnosed with breast cancer, too.
“When you’re diagnosed with cancer you can feel quite lonely. You start looking at the world and thinking: ‘Am I the only person my age who’s going through this?’”
Kate’s friend introduced her to Sarah Mountford. The pair started messaging and instantly hit it off, meeting for walks and coffee while they recovered from surgery.
“Having someone who was going through a similar thing was such a relief,” says Sarah, 39, a manager for a rail company, who has sons Joseph, six, and Eddie, three, with her husband Paul, 41.
The pair became firm friends, and stayed in touch as they recovered.
After Kate’s awkward experience shopping for bras, she confided in Sarah and was amazed to learn that she’d been through the same thing too.
“I rocked up at the fitting clinic and it was in a medical consulting room with an examination bed in one corner, a suitcase of bras and a temporary mirror,” says Sarah. “The bra fitter proceeded to talk about herself and take calls about her supermarket delivery.”
After the fitting, Sarah was left feeling bewildered.
“It was utterly bizarre and the bras she pulled out were very old-fashioned,” says Sarah. “It left me thinking, surely there must be something better than this.”
Kate agreed. “After my fitting,
I felt embarrassed and singled out as a cancer patient,” Kate says. “You’re trying to get used to your new post-surgery body and you want something which will make you feel nice, but I felt the opposite.”
The conversation gave Kate and Sarah an idea. If they couldn’t find a bra-fitting service especially for women who’d had mastectomies, then they would start one. Both women went on to train as specialist mastectomy bra fitters and have now launched a business offering fittings either in person or via video call.
They strongly feel that women who have had surgery for breast cancer need a specialist service.
Women who have not had a reconstruction may need a bra which holds a prosthetic, while post-reconstruction women may need a bra which feels comfortable or covers scarring. It’s important that whoever fits them is understanding.
“There are lots of misconceptions about what you can and can’t wear,” says Kate. “No one wants to say: ‘Actually I also want to have something which makes me feel good, or that’s comfortable or is similar to what I used to wear.’”
Sarah agrees. “We want to offer something that just feels like it’s normal, not an alien experience,” she says. “I hope we can help other women like us.”
For more information, visit brasisters.co.uk
After my bra fitting I felt embarrassed and singled out as a cancer patient