Knitting Hope: How One Breast Cancer Survivor Is Helping Others Heal

There’s a unique kind of com­fort that comes from some­one who has walked the same path.

After nav­i­gat­ing her own breast can­cer diag­no­sis and treat­ment, Sara G. want­ed to make the jour­ney a lit­tle soft­er for the women walk­ing behind her. So, she start­ed knit­ting pros­the­ses, turn­ing her per­son­al sur­vival into a gift of heal­ing for others.

Today, every stitch is a way to give back and a reminder of how far she has come since hear­ing the words, ​“You have breast cancer.”

Receiv­ing Her Diagnosis

In Novem­ber 2025, Sara went in for a rou­tine mam­mo­gram. After the exam, she was called back for addi­tion­al imag­ing, includ­ing an ultra­sound. Hav­ing been through sim­i­lar call­backs before — each end­ing in benign results — she assumed this vis­it would be no different.

“I had dense breasts, so I’ve had two pre­vi­ous call­backs and biop­sies,” she said. ​“The first two times I was real­ly wor­ried, but by the third time I was­n’t as wor­ried and that’s when it actu­al­ly was cancer.”

Fol­low­ing the imag­ing, Sara was sched­uled for a biop­sy on Decem­ber 23. Just after Christ­mas, she received the call con­firm­ing a much dif­fer­ent out­come than before: stage 1 breast can­cer in her left breast.

A rou­tine mam­mo­gram caught Sara’s can­cer at stage 1 — ear­ly enough that she need­ed no chemother­a­py or radi­a­tion. Sched­ule your annu­al screen­ing mam­mo­gram with Duly >

Nav­i­gat­ing Treat­ment Decisions

In the weeks that fol­lowed, Sara found her­self fac­ing a series of impor­tant deci­sions about her treat­ment. Ear­ly in her diag­no­sis, she began work­ing with Sud­ha Yarla­gad­da, MD, an oncol­o­gist with Duly Health and Care’s Bri­an Moran Can­cer Insti­tute (BMCI).

Want­i­ng to make the best choice for her future, Sara care­ful­ly weighed her options.

“I took about a month to fig­ure out what I want­ed to do,” she said.

Dur­ing that time, she leaned heav­i­ly on her care team, includ­ing nurse nav­i­ga­tors who helped her work through ques­tions and options.

“The nurse nav­i­ga­tors were very, very help­ful,” she said. ​“I asked a lot of ques­tions about the pros and cons of things.”

When­ev­er she felt over­whelmed by the weight of her diag­no­sis, she reached back out to Dr. Yarla­gad­da for direction.

“I felt like I had this time bomb tick­ing in me,” she said.

For Dr. Yarla­gad­da, the first step in care is under­stand­ing the per­son behind the diagnosis.

“When some­one comes to me with a new breast can­cer diag­no­sis, I try not to start by talk­ing about the can­cer itself. Instead, I want to under­stand who they are as a per­son,” she said. ​“What was their life like before this diag­no­sis? What is impor­tant to them? Who are the peo­ple they lean on for sup­port? Those con­ver­sa­tions help me care for the whole per­son, not just the disease.”

As Sara worked through her options, she began lean­ing toward a mas­tec­to­my with aes­thet­ic flat clo­sure and was referred to breast sur­geon Anna Chichu­ra, MD, FACOG, FACS. For Sara, the first vis­it made an imme­di­ate difference.

“She total­ly under­stood what I was ask­ing for,” she said. ​“She knew what I was talk­ing about.”

For Dr. Chichu­ra, these con­ver­sa­tions are root­ed in shared decision-making.

“Shared deci­sion-mak­ing is a col­lab­o­ra­tive process in which the sur­geon pro­vides clear med­ical infor­ma­tion and the patient brings their own pri­or­i­ties, val­ues, lifestyle con­sid­er­a­tions, and goals,” she said. ​“The goal is not to steer some­one toward a par­tic­u­lar choice, but to ensure they under­stand their options and feel empow­ered to choose the path that best aligns with their per­son­al pref­er­ences and med­ical needs.”

After care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion, Sara ulti­mate­ly chose that treat­ment path, a deci­sion that felt right for her.

“Aes­thet­ic flat clo­sure is a sur­gi­cal approach for patients who choose not to have breast recon­struc­tion after a mas­tec­to­my. Rather than sim­ply remov­ing breast tis­sue, the pro­ce­dure is planned with atten­tion to con­tour, sym­me­try, and com­fort,” explained Dr. Chichura.

A Team Approach to Care

What stood out most to Sara through­out her care was­n’t just the med­ical exper­tise, but the way her providers worked together.

“I real­ly feel like it’s a team approach,” she said. ​“Dr. Yarla­gad­da has said, ​‘I spoke with Dr. Chichu­ra,’ and vice ver­sa. I always knew they were on the same page.”

Accord­ing to Dr. Yarla­gad­da, that col­lab­o­ra­tion is intentional.

“Breast can­cer treat­ment is nev­er a one-per­son effort; it tru­ly takes a team, and the patient is at the cen­ter of that team,” she said. ​“From the time of diag­no­sis, we work close­ly togeth­er to make sure every patient receives thought­ful, coor­di­nat­ed care. I want my patients to know that they have an entire team behind them.”

Encour­ag­ing Results and Recovery

Know­ing her care team was com­mu­ni­cat­ing and work­ing togeth­er gave Sara con­fi­dence in the path for­ward. Fol­low­ing surgery and addi­tion­al test­ing, Sara received encour­ag­ing news. Her can­cer had been caught ear­ly, and she would not need chemother­a­py or radiation.

Today, she takes a dai­ly med­ica­tion to reduce her risk of recur­rence and con­tin­ues with reg­u­lar fol­low-up care.

“My results were real­ly good,” she said. ​“As long as I take Tamox­ifen for five years, my chance of recur­rence in the next 10 years is 5%.”

Sara grad­u­al­ly returned to her nor­mal rou­tine. She is back to work as an account man­ag­er, trav­el­ing for busi­ness, and enjoy­ing every­day life again.

Find­ing Com­fort and Purpose

The expe­ri­ence stayed with her.

While recov­er­ing from surgery, Sara dis­cov­ered Knit­ted Knock­ers, a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides hand­made knit­ted breast pros­the­ses to women who have under­gone mastectomies.

While wait­ing to be fit­ted for tra­di­tion­al sil­i­cone pros­thet­ics, she decid­ed to knit a pair for herself.

“I remem­ber how excit­ed I was when I made my first pair,” she said. ​“I was try­ing to fig­ure out what I could use when I was out in public.”

What start­ed as a prac­ti­cal solu­tion dur­ing recov­ery became some­thing far more meaningful.

“I can wear these, and I won’t look any dif­fer­ent than any­body else.”

Dr. Chichu­ra says many patients appre­ci­ate Knit­ted Knock­ers because they offer com­fort and acces­si­bil­i­ty dur­ing recovery.

“Many patients find knit­ted knock­ers to be a com­fort­able option while heal­ing from surgery,” she said. ​“One of the unique ben­e­fits of knit­ted knock­ers is acces­si­bil­i­ty, as they are pro­vid­ed free through vol­un­teer programs.”

Their val­ue extends beyond phys­i­cal comfort.

“Resources like these help patients feel seen, sup­port­ed, and con­nect­ed to a com­mu­ni­ty of peo­ple who under­stand what they are expe­ri­enc­ing,” Dr. Chichu­ra shared. ​“Recov­ery is not only about phys­i­cal heal­ing — it is also about restor­ing con­fi­dence, com­fort, and qual­i­ty of life, and com­mu­ni­ty resources can play an impor­tant role in that process.”

Today, Sara knits Knit­ted Knock­ers for oth­er women fac­ing breast can­cer and recent­ly donat­ed sets to her care team so they can be dis­trib­uted direct­ly to patients.

“It feels good to be able to give that to some­one else,” she said. ​“I want­ed oth­er women to have that same option.”

A Mes­sage for Others

Sara hopes her sto­ry reminds oth­ers that a can­cer diag­no­sis is not the end of the story.

“Breast can­cer is very treat­able,” she said. ​“Just because you get that diag­no­sis, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”

She also encour­ages new­ly diag­nosed patients to advo­cate for them­selves and seek out a team that respects their choices.

“Find an oncol­o­gist and a sur­geon that you real­ly can con­nect with,” she said. ​“Find some­one who under­stands what you real­ly want.”

Today, life feels steady again. Sara’s diag­no­sis changed her per­spec­tive, but it didn’t define her. Instead, she is focused on mov­ing for­ward and help­ing oth­ers do the same, one knit­ted stitch at a time.

The coor­di­nat­ed team Sara trust­ed — her oncol­o­gist, breast sur­geon, and nurse nav­i­ga­tors — care for patients here. Explore mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary and breast can­cer care with Duly’s Bri­an Moran Can­cer Institute >