It's said that necessity is the mother of invention. It's also said that most things in life happen for a reason. These two adages may seem unrelated but for Janet Cockburn, they have melded with remarkable synchronicity.
Twelve years ago, Cockburn, of Burlington, Ont., underwent treatment for breast cancer - first a lumpectomy and then a mastectomy. In 1997, she joined a dragonboat paddling team of breast-cancer survivors. There, the first necessity presented itself.
"We were all complaining that we couldn't find sports bras that we could put a prosthesis in," she says. "The girls all said, Why don't you design one?"
At first it seemed like a ludicrous idea.
"I certainly wouldn't call myself a designer or even a sewer." In fact, she is a bookkeeper. "But I thought about it for a year and then decided, Why can't I do it?"
She found a Hamilton, Ont. manufacturer, sat down with a designer and came up with a prototype, tested it on the dragonboat team, tweaked the design, and went into production. Thus, Janac Sportswear was born.
Two more designs followed, one lower cut in the front with a narrower racer back and then that same design with a zipper front. The latter became a popular seller even with non-sports-minded women, simply because it is easier to get on and off, particularly for older women who may lack flexibility and mobility.
"It's more comfortable than a fitted bra, so a lot of ladies wear them just for the comfort," she adds.
Problem number two presented itself when Cockburn was participating in an exercise class, wearing her own sportsbra. As she stretched backward over a Swiss ball, she looked down and saw that her natural breast had flattened but the preformed gel prosthesis was sticking straight up.
"I fell off the ball laughing," she says. "And I realized that I now had to design a prosthesis to go in a sportsbra that would act like a natural breast."
Enter the Been-A-Boob.
Cockburn's prosthesis looks a lot like a beanbag, wrapped in a soft outer skin. In fact, the first ones were filled with pellets much like those used in beany toys. The current ones use small plastic pellets that mould together so that they aren't felt separately when holding the prosthesis.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Women are using the Been-A-Boob for more than sports. Many find it more comfortable than the gel versions, which are hot and can be heavy. She says women tell her that it looks so natural that people can't tell it's not real - one woman was even asked when she was having her surgery.
Information and sales are available at janacsportswear.ca.
