Those of us facing Breast Implant Illness (B.I.I.) often hear “Why don’t you just get them out?” The answer is, “Because it costs $50,000 and I am scared.” I feel that this question is a sign of the great misunderstanding about Breast Implant Illness and makes it seem like the cure to this is so simple. The assumption they are making is that we live in an ideal world and are in a country where we have universal healthcare and treatment is covered. It also desensitizes the whole issue implying a woman cutting out their breast is “no big deal. “This is the exact opposite of the truth, and something no one “elected” to have as a complication when we got the implants.
The procedure to remove implants is called and explant and can cost up to $50,000 to perform. It is a three-step process, and in the best case scenario, it can take a year or more to treat. Women need weeks to heal from the surgery, months of detox and then another surgery to reconstruct. This is assuming you do not have BIALCL, the cancer associated with implants. The procedure is often not covered by insurance as Breast Implant Illness is a new issue and many doctors disagree on the cause and treatment.
Now let’s talk about the doctors. The explant is done by a plastic surgeon, the doctor who sold us this in the first place. The procedure requires the doctor to remove both the implant and the capsule around the implant as well as performing biopsies on all of the affected tissue. If you are participating in the class action law suit against the manufacturers there is also a chain of command to handle the implants as “evidence”. As for me, I also have masses, or fluid filled cysts in the tissue and they hurt. Those have to be removed by an actual breast surgeon, as the plastic surgeon is not the one who touches the breast tissue. This is another surgery and more money and time off work.
For many of us dealing with B.I.I. financing a $50,000 treatment plan is not feasible. We are already sick, struggling to work and insurance is no help. Then consider the cost of the original implants and the fact that many women are still paying off the financing for those implants. My replacement implants were $24,000 and now treatment to save my life is double that or more. At this point my tits should have been a small condo as I was over $150,000 in costs.
I was so angry and scared when I found out that insurance would not cover the cost of the surgery and humiliated that I did not have the extra money. I really believed we live in a world where sick people get treated and doctors have Hippocratic oaths that they uphold. However, this is America and these are plastic surgeons, which is a mostly cash business and seen as “elective” class of healthcare. I was shocked when I was told I would have to come out of pocket for this. The implants had been recalled and I thought we would get help. That is also a rumor. The recall offers a settlement of $7500, only if you sign a waiver releasing any claims if I get cancer and requires me to put in a replacement set. Keep in mind the quote was $50,000 and this would not cover the total cost and new implants could kill me. So, for me this is not an option and I had to find another way.
Financing this could not be this hard, but it was humiliating. I recall calling one plastic surgeons office and the woman asked me if I had a rich friend or boyfriend who could help me? Feeling helpless I literally fell on the floor, curled up in a ball and sobbed. Then I got up and decided to get to work, and that is how www.sicktitties.com was formed. As I began to tell my friends and daughter how much this would cost, they were stunned. For me there were many times I was worried I was not worth the investment. I did not want to burden anyone with this and I almost gave up. Thanks to my friends I found my fight and knew to finance my cure I had to turn my crisis into an opportunity. I was on the phone with a friend and joked that “I had to get my “sick titties” out and he said that is hysterical, you need a T-Shirt. My response was no, “YOU’RE BRILLIANT” and as a social impact entrepreneur, creative financier and artist I found my next project.
I decided that if I could create Sick Titties merchandise, I could sell it to raise funds and awareness to finance my treatment. Then I looked at how many T-Shirts I needed to sell to help me, and realized maybe I could turn this into an impact lifestyle company and help other people as well. As I sat down and looked at the issue, I became inspired and looked beyond the T-Shirt into the community. We tried to design the app ad web site that would offer B.I.I. patients the right solution. What we needed was on demand access to accredited doctors with affordable treatment plans and health coaches to help us navigate the process.
I worked with my team at my media tech company to help me design the right HIPPA compliant app and web site and created a vision for a program and mission for the brand I saw that there was a need to bring women into a secure safe space to get real information from doctors who were experts and actively treating this illness. I pitched them on creating a lifestyle company to finance a private community to support breast implant illness patients. I am thankful that like me this team saw that this crisis was a true social impact opportunity and www.sicktiitties.com was born.
Researching this issue, we found that Breast Impact Illness is a whole new market with millions of women like me, struggling to finance their cures. The women were spending millions on products and services that were not working and needed access to reliable solutions and real facts on what to do. They also needed real doctors. I had learned that there were two classes of surgeons. The ones who “CAME OUT AS SUPPORTERS OF B.I.I.” and the non-believers. That is when it hit me, this was politics and business and B.I.I. was threatening a multi-billion-dollar business. In order to do this, we need to get organized and find the right people to help us help others and lobby for change.
As I worked to create the plan with the team, I was angry, inspired and determined given what we learned. I felt hope for the first time that I was not going to lose my life over money and saw an opportunity. I vowed that if I found a solution for me and lived then maybe I could help other women too. Then the mission became a propose as the more women I met the more I realized I was not alone. With the help of an AMAZING TEAM, we set up the web site, created the initial merchandise and I realized if I sold 5000 units of Sick Titties merchandise, I could save my life. If I sold 50,000, I could save ten lives and the vision and mission grew.
Today we are launching the campaign and I am on a mission to create a collection of products that honor the community and offer us what we need, while raising funds and awareness for the cause. As each day passes, I get sicker and the urgency to finance my treatment and help others as we bring this to market is real. My friends have watched me deteriorate in front of their eyes as the illness gets worse and I fight to finance my cure. The women in my community are suffering. The creativity and commitment they have shown in building the initial store and web site is an honor and I am so proud of them. The merchandise is a call to action and I invite you all to get one of the products today to show your support. The RESPECT line, B Unbelievable line and the Sick Titties products should help us raise funds and awareness while honoring the journey and issues we face daily. Please help us, help me, and help others by purchasing a SICK TITTIES T-SHIRT now!