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SALT LAKE CITY — A mastectomy is a common method of treatment breast cancer patients. For some cancer survivors, what the surgery takes away has a more profound effect on them than they had imagined.
Brenda Shilder could appreciate the difficult choice revealed this week by Angelina Jolie. As a breast cancer survivor, Shilder underwent a mastectomy and was shocked by the end result.
"You totally feel like you're aren't,'" Shilder said. "You totally lose your sex."
Lucinda Kresge felt the same way as she realized her cancer treatment would not only remove breast tissue underneath the skin, but everything on the outside.
"There's a difference between telling yourself that you're still a woman and you're still womanly and you're still fine, and actually looking in the mirror and seeing something that doesn't shock your brain," she said.
There are a few different types of mastectomies, and which one a patient receives depends on the type of cancer she has and how far it was spread. Even if the breast is later reconstructed, most surgeries aren't able to fully recapture the outer appearance of a normal breast.
Both Shilder and Kresge found hope and a return to normalcy with the skills of a Utah medical artist.
There's a difference between telling yourself that you're still a woman and you're still womanly and you're still fine, and actually looking in the mirror and seeing something that doesn't shock your brain.
–Lucinda Kresge
Paul Tanner, with Custom DME, is an anaplastologist — someone who makes prosthetic body parts. He developed a unique nipple prosthesis after realizing his skills could help breast cancer survivors re-gain what they once had.
"People come in all sorts of shapes and sizes," Tanner said, "and when you give them something back, what they originally had, that's what makes a real difference in their lives. That's what makes them feel whole again."
Tanner spends his days creating elaborate, detailed works of art that few people will ever see. His custom prosthetics help give women a part of their body back to make them more like they were before cancer.
"When you're being treated for breast cancer with a mastectomy — it depends on your tumor and where it is — but a lot of times everything goes, and you have to make that sacrifice if you want to live," Tanner said.
Both Shilder and Kresge had decided against total reconstructive surgery, so the solution Tanner offered was an alternative way to once again feel like women. The outcome was an emotional experience.
"My jaw just hit the floor. The realism was just absolutely stunning," Kresge said.
"It just hit me that this is it; this is what you've been looking for, and I sat there in front of my computer for a good half hour and I just sobbed my eyes out because I was so relieved," she said.
The events of this week have raised awareness that women can take an active role in their breast cancer choices, and both these women wanted to share their discovery and a message of hope with other survivors.
"It's not the end of your womanhood, not by any means," Kresge said. "It's a new beginning."
For more information about Tanner's custom prosthetics, or to contact him, visit www.customdme.com.
