Knitted Knockers Restores Dignity for Women with Mastectomies

Breast cancer is a battle fought on many fronts: against fear, against uncertainty, and against the physical scars it leaves behind. And each year, thousands of women choose life through mastectomies, but the cost is often their sense of wholeness and dignity. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we look beyond the fight for survival and instead to the journey of restoration, where compassion, creativity, and community are stitched together in the form of Knitted Knockers. This month, News Five’s Sabreena Daly is setting out to find stories that restore dignity. Here’s what she found for this week’s look on the Bright Side.

 

Sabreena Daly, Reporting

This is Janet Phillips. At sixty-three, she carries the grace of survival in her smile. Janet has faced cancer twice and come out the other side glowing with a joy that radiates strength and resilience. Her journey began back in 2020, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a battle that led to the removal of one breast, but it didn’t take away her spirit. And if that wasn’t difficult enough, two years later the cancer returned, claiming what some would describe as a piece of a woman’s femininity. To save her life, both of her breasts were removed.

 

Janet Phillips, Breast Cancer Survivor

“I would look at myself in the mirror and say, wow, but I accepted it. I said, well, if that’s what it takes for me to be alive, I am happy with it. But then when I was diagnosed again, I said, wow.”

 

 

 

When breast cancer is diagnosed in its later stages, doctors often must make a tough call, a mastectomy. That’s the surgical removal of one or both breasts, and while it’s a life-saving procedure, it’s also life-changing. Here in Belize, breast cancer is a crisis. It accounts for nearly forty percent of all cancers affecting women. That’s a staggering number, and it’s a reminder of how urgent early detection and awareness really are.

 

 

 

Janet Phillips

“I would walk about just flat chested. It was until I got the prosthesis then I felt well again. Good again to walk around.”

 

Traditional reconstruction and medical-grade prosthetics can be costly, sometimes running into thousands of dollars, making access difficult for many women in Belize. It’s in this space that creative, supportive solutions play a vital role in helping women regain confidence and a sense of normalcy. Barbara Flowers shared how the efforts with Knitted Knockers are providing just that…support and confidence for these brave survivors.

 

 

 

 

Barbara Flowers, Administrative Director, Twin Girls: Knitted Knockers Belize

“Knitted Knockers is an all voluntary organization where women who know how to knit and crochet come together and make breast forms for women who have lost their breast cancer.”

 

 

 

With the motto, ‘Weaving knots of love with threads of hope into boobless bosoms,’ Twin Girls: Knitted Knockers is an international organization in nearly seventy countries. In 2024, Belize officially joined a global movement that’s making a real difference, one handcrafted knocker at a time. Since then, the team has been on a mission, reaching out to women across the country with compassion and care. Last year alone, they distributed two hundred and fifty of these soft, handmade breast prostheses and they’ve already made one hundred and eighty-eight more in 2025.

 

 

 

Barbara Flowers

“The loss of a breast is something that I would, I would not wish on anyone and I’ve seen what cancer and breast loss does to a person especially to a much younger person.  You look at the breast and you say, well, it’s just a breast, but is it really just the breast? It’s not really, what does the breast represent? It’s a representation of your femininity as a woman.”

 

 

The movement is powered by volunteers. Every week, women gather in libraries, open spaces, or even the comfort of their own homes to stitch breasts of all shapes and sizes. Some do it to give back and build community, while others are honoring their own personal experiences and connections to cancer. We met Amelia Salas, stitching in her late sister’s memory.

 

Amelia Salas, Volunteer, Twin Girls: Knitted Knockers

“These are single crochet that I’m using. This is a loop right here. And then we go around increasing. Increasing, until we get it correct. These gems are the markers. For this small one, I put a small marker so that I know that this is my ending or my beginning.  I am doing it mainly in, in honor of my sister. Mm-hmm. Um, she was like a mother to me and she died due to breast cancer. So, um, this, that I picked up, I do it with my heart.”

 

 

 

Barbara Flowers

“If you look at both of these, this is the conventional breast form that they would give you. Those are extremely costly. A pair of that would run over a thousand US dollars. As compared to this, this is the one that we make. This is a knitted knocker. Now tell me, which would you prefer to wear on your chest? This heavy one or the light one that’s a lot more comfortable.  It’s airy, it wears well and you can wash it.”

 

 

More than fabric and thread, each Knitted Knockers is a symbol of care, resilience, and restored dignity. For every woman who has faced the pain of losing a breast, these volunteers offer comfort, hope, and a reminder that she is not alone.

 

Janet Phillips

“I contacted Ms. Barbara, and she gave me the first pair.”

 

 

 

 

Sabreena Daly

“What was it like seeing your body like before?”

 

Janet Phillips

“It gave me confidence again because I wasn’t using anything. I would walk around without anything. I got my confidence again.”

 

 

 

 

The knockers are available for free at several health facilities across the country. To give, to support, or to join this movement is to help weave love and courage into every boobless bosom. Looking on the Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.