When Mary Mwangi received her breast cancer diagnosis, she expected death to come shortly after, but she said her hobby of knitting helped her through recovery instead. In Thika, outside Nairobi, she now makes knitted prostheses for other women in Kenya who have had an entire breast removed and do not have access to reconstructive surgery.
Mwangi started knitting in 2017 by making hats and scarves, before meeting another woman who was knitting a prosthesis. As her recovery progressed, she began making the devices for others and later formalized the effort with a group she calls the New Dawn Cancer Warriors, where some members sell what they make and others use the work as an outlet when grief becomes overwhelming.
“The moment I got cancer, I thought I would die,” Mwangi said. She said knitting for her became a way to move through healing, adding, “Knitting takes you through a process of healing. Once you are not thinking about your disease, you are positive and that positive mind helps you, because healing starts from your mind.” For women who face the physical and emotional impact of mastectomy without reconstruction, she frames the work as both practical and psychological support.
For Nancy Waithera, a high school science teacher, Mwangi’s prosthesis helped her recovery after surgery and gave her a way to picture life without one breast. Waithera told of feeling “everything turned dark” after her diagnosis and also said that meeting Mwangi restored hope; after her surgery, she said she looked forward to trying on the prosthesis. On her first day wearing it, when she went to church, she said, “I felt like Nancy had come back,” adding, “My ego was restored. My dignity was restored.”
Mwangi’s products also address day-to-day comfort and appearance. The prostheses cost $10 per breast, a fraction of the price of silicone prostheses in Kenya, and the group says women fill them with the same kind of fiber used in pillows. Women who wore the knitted devices said the material feels gentle on their skin, with Hannah Mugo describing a confidence shift from using clothing to fill a bra to wearing a prosthesis that sits more naturally.
Mugo said she was once reluctant to go out because she did not want people to label her as “the woman with one breast,” but she said learning to knit with Mwangi helped her cope. She said she met Mwangi and learned how to knit “not just for herself but for sale as well,” with some members turning their skills into income while others knit alongside the support network.
The pressure around breast cancer care remains high in developing countries, where treatment costs can limit options. In Kenya, the health ministry says just over 50% of breast cancer patients present with advanced stage disease at diagnosis, and it is working on standardizing early detection. Surgeon Daniel Ojuka, who has seen donated prostheses at the Kenyatta National Hospital cancer treatment center, said having a plan for life after surgery and a supportive community can make recovery “significantly easier,” particularly for women who do not have reconstructive surgery.
Ojuka said a mastectomy can be the cheapest option for Kenyan women diagnosed with breast cancer, and he said reconstructive surgery is out of reach for many and is not covered by the national health insurance system. He said even when surgeons prepare patients to wake up after surgery with a flat chest, the loss can be deeply affecting and he has watched patients weep after waking.
Mwangi said she is determined to train more women to knit the prostheses while keeping hope alive for people facing mastectomy. She told of how she now views cancer differently and said, “There is life after cancer, and cancer is not a death sentence, because I’m a living testimony.”