Friend to Friend: Survivor starts business to help others
November 06, 2009 12:20 PM
BAINBRIDGE -- We met Melissa Pantel-Ku four years ago, right after her breast cancer treatment.
She lost her father to the disease and she inherited the breast cancer gene from him but she was never told to do genetic testing and didn't realize her risk.
"I came out of my treatment very angry and grieving a lot. I had a 50-50 chance of surviving," she says.
Melissa is now celebrating five years survivorship and turned her anger into something constructive to help others. She and her friend, Christine Weiss, started an organic clothing company.
"Our first product is mastectomy pajamas because during my treatment, it would have been useful," she said.
She got the idea from her martial arts outfit. After a mastectomy, it's often painful to lift the arms but these pajamas can easily slip on.
The business is called "Hope and Humor."
"Hope and humor are two of the things that got me through this ordeal and to be able to pass those along to other women was important to me," she said.
Pajamas and funny t-shirts are made by Esperanza Threads, an organization that teaches low-income women how to sew so they can support themselves.
"It was really important to us in forming this business not to harm the environment, not to add potentially toxic chemicals to the environment, and that they are 'fair-sewn,' that they are being made by people who are being paid a living wage. Even though I don't look at breast cancer as a gift, the fact that I had to confront my mortality at 34 helped me to transform my life in a way that makes me proud."
p. 1/1
- 'Youth Hunting Weekend' extra-special for these 'Hunting Brothers'
- Focus: Health guidelines for women were rocked this week
Copyright (c) 2009
wkyc.com
