Many people's knitting efforts focus on jumpers, scarves, children's clothes and blankets. But, one breast cancer survivor is knitting hundreds of woolly breasts for women who've had mastectomies due to breast cancer. A video about Sharon's knitting efforts have gone viral. In the video above, which has over 18 million views, she explains why knitting breasts is so important to her. Sharon had breast cancer five years ago and didn't want reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy. Sharon and her team of fellow knitters -- who she calls "knockerettes" -- knit around 300 breasts a month, in an effort to provide lighter and more comfortable post-surgery protheses than the stick-ons offered by the NHS. "My reason and purpose is to make life better for people in the throes of cancer," Sharon says. "Breast cancer isn't pink and it isn't fluffy. It's a nasty, horrible disease that changes people's lives," she continues.
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
