Woman travelled around Australia while knitting knockers for breast cancer survivors

A Queensland woman has knitted her way around Australia creating breast prostheses for breast cancer survivors. While looking for something to do while travelling around Australia, Dawn Toomey, from Deception Bay north of Brisbane, decided to knit breast inserts for Knitted Knockers. The charity originated in America and design and create breast prostheses for women who undergo single or double mastectomy.



"I could not quilt in the car like I normally would do at home, so I decided to knit knockers ," Ms Toomey said. "I knitted 128 of them when I travelled around Australia, and when I got back here there were no other branches in Queensland so I started one in Deception Bay." Groups in Australia started appearing in 2013 after a group in Melbourne heard about the American concept. Ms Toomey started the Deception Bay group in September last year with two other groups now in Caboolture and the Sunshine Coast.



The prostheses are free to women who have undergone a mastectomy and cannot afford reconstruction or chose not to undergo the procedure. The 'knockers' are made of 100 per cent cotton, enabling patients to use the inserts immediately after an operation. The group also works with hospitals and breast care nurses to supply the inserts and ensure that two sets of every size are always available. "We use cotton as many people have allergies or get itchy with wool, so cotton is the way to go as it is soft," Ms Toomey said. "It sits right against the skin and if someone has just had a mastectomy, it can sit against the wound and it does not itch or irritate.



"The knockers can be put inside a bra and worn immediately. We knit all sizes from A cup to G cup to suit all shapes and sizes." Ms Toomey hopes other knitters will join her in providing the service to breast cancer survivors. "We send out kits to knitters which are made up of a ball of cotton, pattern and enough fill to fill the cup and we provide all that for free," she said. "We have a quality control system and all the knitting goes through this first to make sure it is made as it should be before we put them into stock." More information on volunteering or receiving prostheses can be found at Knitted Knockers Australia.