Inspired after her mom's mastectomy, NC woman creates breast cancer recovery wear
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and ABC11 is highlighting one North Carolina woman's innovation in recovery wear for patients after surgery.
Leah Wyrick founded Three Strands Recovery Wear as a freshman at Wake Forest University. She was inspired to create a new surgical bra with special features like drain pocket holders and compression bands after seeing what her mom, Nancy, went through following a mastectomy and three subsequent surgeries due to complications.
"We quickly realized that with a better post-operative bra, some of those complications could have been actually prevented and realized that this doesn't just happen to my mom. It happens to millions of other women." Wyrick said.
Wyrick built The Resilience Bra over the four years she was at Wake Forest University through the Center for Entrepreneurship.
It happens to millions of other women.Leah Wyrick
"I was really lucky to be surrounded by such an incredible medical community in Winston-Salem to really utilize the hospitals and some amazing surgeons in the area to build a product truly based on patient feedback," Wyrick added.
"The bra is meant to be put on the patient on the operating table to be worn home specifically in that 0 to 8-week post-operative period. However, we know that there are a lot of wonderful mastectomy boutiques out there that also work closely with the hospital systems where patients can actually go get fitted before their surgeries, whether that's a mastectomy, lumpectomy, or reconstruction. They can go into these boutiques and get fitted beforehand, and insurance will typically cover at least two bras every six months."
Since graduating in 2022, Wyrick now runs Three Strands Recovery Wear full-time with her mom. The Resilience Bra is carried in ten states at local mastectomy boutiques, including the Duke Cancer Center in Durham, N.C.
