: Knitted With Love: These Women Created Breast Prosthesis For 5700 Cancer Survivors #IndiaNEWS #cancer Having to undergo a mastectomy (removal of the breast) can have a debilitating impact on a woman.

Knitted With Love: These Women Created Breast Prosthesis For 5700 Cancer Survivors #IndiaNEWS #cancer
Having to undergo a mastectomy (removal of the breast) can have a debilitating impact on a woman.
Societal pressures on the looks of a woman have always been a cause for concern. At a time when women spend lakhs on getting breast augmentation surgeries done, having to undergo a procedure to remove a breast can leave one shattered.
While women in urban India still have access to silicone prosthesis among other things, in rural India women often stuff handkerchiefs and cotton balls in their bras to create an illusion of a full breast — none of which is easy on the skin that has already gone through surgery and might lead to rashes, infections or skin abrasions.
Imagine the kind of pressure that forces a woman to undergo such pain, after undergoing such trauma, to look a particular way.
Working towards a cause.
Kartika Rajagopal a 33-year-old Ayurvedic Ophthalmologist was diagnosed with breast cancer and advised a mastectomy in 2017. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2020 and underwent yet another mastectomy.
From silicone-based prostheses to cotton ones, Kartika tried many before chancing upon the prostheses made by Saaisha India.
“It changed my life,�? she says, describing the prostheses made by the group.
The crocheted knockers made by Saaisha India.
Saaisha India Foundation, a charitable organisation, is the brainchild of Jayashree Ratan, based in Mumbai who realised in 2018 the urgent need to find a solution for the many women in India who undergo mastectomy. It was here that they started making crocheted or knitted prostheses, called ‘Knitted Knockers’.
Having created a network of over 270 volunteers from across India, UAE and the US, this voluntary organisation has distributed over 5,700 prostheses for free in the last four years.
Speaking to The Better India, Jayashree says, “While I was travelling to the US I volunteered with a group that was making prostheses for women who had undergone mastectomies. It was around this time that one of my relatives in India had undergone a mastectomy as well. �?
Jayshree recollects speaking to her relative and asking her if she was using a prosthesis of any kind.
Saaisha India- Bringing women together.
The relative mentioned rolling up a dupatta and using it and that is when Jayashree asked her if she would be willing to try the crocheted prosthesis that she had made in the US. “I gave her a couple and after she used it she was in tears. She was the one who suggested that I do this for many others in India who did not have easy access to such prostheses. That was how knitted knockers was introduced in India. �?
Over the next four years, from March 2018, Jayashree along with two other friends went on to establish a network all over India with women who in their own time, crochet these prostheses.