Linda Aiken was already at the hospital when her phone rang. She just didn’t expect to be the one needing care. She was at her husband’s bedside when she learned she had breast cancer. Aiken, then 62, said she was in a daze after that.
When she started her treatments, she often brought knitting projects to work on. Knitting helped her get through the toughest days. So did kind staff members. Those two things helped her feel less alone during an otherwise dark period.
“I was so pleased with the doctors and medical staff. They knew my situation, they knew my husband had just passed away,” Aiken said, tearing up.
What are ‘Knitted Knockers’?
Aiken returned recently to the very building where she received her breast cancer treatments 15 years ago. She was one of about 30 volunteers who attended a “Knitted Knockers” knit-a-thon on Oct. 11 at The Wellness Place at the UCHealth Cancer Center – Harmony Campus in Fort Collins.
While it wasn’t easy to return to a place where she had to go through cancer treatments, it was worth it to Aiken.
“They treated me like a princess. I had so much support just getting through life then. Maybe this is me giving back.”
Knitted Knockers are special breast prostheses, made by volunteers like Aiken, for women who have had breast cancer and undergone mastectomy or lumpectomy. Where medical grade breast prostheses can be hot, heavy, and sticky, Knitted Knockers are soft, light, and comfortable. They take the shape and feel of a real breast and can be worn with a regular bra and even while swimming. Knockers also come in a variety of different sizes and skin tones, and breast cancer patients receive them for free.
Knitting comfort, one stitch at a time
At the knit-a-thon, Aiken sat next to Carol Rieser. Rieser is a breast cancer survivor, too. The two women met years ago at a knitting retreat in Estes Park and often run into each other at local yarn shops. Cancer, they agree, isn’t picky and will come at inopportune times.
They talked and laughed together as their knitting needles clacked together. Both familiar with the pattern, they wasted no time shaping the threads of yarn into pairs of knockers.
Like Aiken, Rieser was diagnosed after a routine mammogram in 2013.
“You go in expecting it to be normal,” Rieser said.
Rieser, then 63, knew something was wrong when her care providers asked her to sit in the waiting room after her mammogram because they might need to run more tests.
“I was in total shock,” she said.
Rieser didn’t have a family history of breast cancer, but she would soon learn she had triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive type of invasive cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It tends to grow and spread faster and have fewer treatment options. Rieser said she was lucky she didn’t have to undergo a mastectomy. Instead, doctors were able to treat her with a lumpectomy and chemotherapy.
Giving back after breast cancer
When Rieser heard about the knit-a-thon event, she knew she had to go.
“I’m a grateful survivor,” she said. “It feels good to be able to help other people.”
Rieser and Aiken both have made knitted knockers before. But for some knit-a-thoners, the recent event was their first time.
Dianne Norden, of Wellington, loves knitting. It’s almost like praying a rosary, she said. You get to see the progress, almost like a prayer.
Norden said she’s known about the Knitted Knockers non-profit for a while. She’d planned to make some knockers and donate them. She would gather her yarn and pull out the pattern, but she couldn’t seem to get started.
Then she got breast cancer.
Norden is enrolled in a study and is receiving hormone therapy. She feels hopeful about her prognosis — and motivated to give back.
“I saw a Facebook group where people who received Knitted Knockers gushed about how great they are and how grateful they are,” she said. “I want to be part of that.”
A community of support
At the knit-a-thon, Norden decided to sit down next to someone who looked like they had some experience knitting knockers. That’s how she met Gloria Johnston, of Loveland.
“I’ve knitted probably about 100 pairs. I really went crazy doing it at first,” Johnston said with a laugh.
Requesting Knitted Knockers:
Colorado Knitted Knockers, a local group affiliated with the international nonprofit, provides breast cancer survivors with soft, knitted alternatives to breast prosthetics — free of charge.
With support from UCHealth Northern Colorado Foundation and community partners, Colorado Knitted Knockers has packaged and delivered about 350 pairs annually for over a decade.
Knitted Knockers are available at cancer centers across Colorado. People can also request them through www.knittedknockers.org, where local groups help fulfill orders.
Johnston hasn’t had breast cancer herself, but she said she can empathize with those who have.
“If we can help in some way, that’s a blessing.”
Norden and Johnston worked side-by-side, troubleshooting as the morning went on.
Sue Paquette, of Fort Collins, started making Knitted Knockers when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. She was shocked, she said, because she thought she did all the right things to stay healthy.
“You do the best you can, but you never know,” she said. “That’s both freeing and scary.”
Paquette made several colorful knockers at the knit-a-thon in shades of green one might expect to find on the nearby Colorado State University campus.
“My mother was very crafty. She made a lot of quilts,” Paquette said. “When she got older, we did crafty things together. I bought a lot of this yarn for those projects and had a lot left. These are memories of mom.”