On a slow Saturday afternoon, a young woman wearing a silk scarf on her head entered a lingerie boutique with a special request: a post-mastectomy bra. The bra fitting specialist working at the time was surprised by the request and found herself drawn into the breast cancer awareness movement by this total stranger.
“She pulled out this small dish towel from the front pocket of her shirt. She had on a button-up shirt that had two front pockets,” said Catherine Monica, a senior majoring in communications and employee at Bra la Vie in downtown Hammond. “I don’t know if I looked at her confused or shocked, but she told me, ‘Well, you know, I don’t have any prosthesis yet so I’ve been wearing this in the pocket of my shirt to make myself look kind of even.’ And I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh. We need to get her something, so she can feel like a woman again.'”
Monica learned the woman had a bilateral mastectomy, which means only one of her breasts was removed due to cancer.
“The shop specifically is waiting on approval,” said Monica about hoping to one day help these women. “She has insurance. She’s waiting on us, as a shop, to get accredited by Medicare. The process to do that is crazy. Ms. Andrea [Kopfler], my boss, has her certification, the shop has its certification and we’re waiting on them to send us some type of number, so that we can allow these ladies to use their insurance so they don’t have to buy these things out of pocket.”
Since the boutique did not have anything to offer the woman, Monica pondered what else she could do to help breast cancer patients and survivors. She thought about shaving her head to raise money, but was conflicted about it at first.
In the fall of 2012, Monica started the campus organizations “Bras for a Cause” with the help of the Student Government Association (SGA). For several weeks, she and SGA set up a table to collect money in the War Memorial Student Union. In just those few days, she raised over $800.
“I’m going to donate it to American Cancer Society because you can actually specify where you want the money to go because I knew that I wanted it to go towards women who have had mastectomies to get mastectomy products and prostasis,” said Monica. “I knew that’s what I wanted, but they told me that they raise their money for the entire year and at the end of the year they split it up and give it to the different places. It’s a simple way to make sure my money gets where I want it to go. They were very helpful.”
During the weeks that Monica was starting the organization, she continued to think about shaving her head for the cause. One day, she received a very important sign, which influenced her decision.
“I was driving on the interstate from Baton Rouge to Hammond, and I saw a sign on the interstate, like a billboard,” said Monica. “All the sign said, literally, was ‘just shave it,’ and I was like, ‘Alright, God, if you want me to do this, I’ll do it.'”
Monica then spoke with her boyfriend Malcolm Young-Hernandez about the sign, and he encouraged her to go through with it.
Months later, in between two basketball games on Play 4Kay Pink Game day on Saturday, January 26, a three-time Southeastern graduate and hair stylist from Wonder Cuts helped Monica to shave her head for the cause at the University Center.
“I’m extremely proud of her,” said Young-Hernandez, a senior majoring in criminal justice. “It’s something she’s been thinking about doing for a very long time, and just the fact that she went through with it, I think it says a lot about her character. It should really mean a lot to the people of this community that people do care about causes like this.”
Monica’s immediate family, her boyfriend and many friends came out to the university center to show their support. Monica’s aunt, who is a breast cancer survivor, also attended.
“I’m young, in college, and the place that I work at is in total support of this,” said Monica. “Ms. Andrea supports everything that I do because she has a heart for it as well. This is the perfect time to do something drastic for a good cause. It feels great.”
Monica plans on doing Relay for Life this year and continuing to fundraise with Bras for a Cause and other causes in the future.
“I just want to keep fundraising, whether it’s for this or for something else,” said Monica. “I have a really big heart for women and children and people who have been victims of human slavery and sex trafficking, so in the future, that’s something that I definitely want to be involved with as well.”