Mastectomy Bra Grants In Ireland: Peaches & Cream on Newstalk

Moncrieff: It's one of those things that are available for some reason, get virtually no publicity. Women who have gone through mastectomy can get grants to help them buy bras and swimwear. Sinead Sanderson is the owner of Peaches and Cream in Dublin, which sells lingerie and has a bra fitting service. Good afternoon, good afternoon. This has been around for a while.

Sinead Sanderson: It has? Yeah, absolutely.

Moncrieff: Yeah. And and our women who've had a mastectomy routinely told about this or...

Sinead Sanderson: Absolutely not. No. I have friends that didn't even know about the service. They weren't aware that they were entitled to so many bras, but they thought it was a once off number one. But also, they weren't aware at all about swimwear. Swimwear was always the elusive. They had to go source that and find out themselves.

Sinead Sanderson: And then up until recently, there was also limited places you could go with limited options. So it was always very self-contained. But this is completely changed in the last year. The allowance has increased and it's a standardized allowance and it's something that they can avail of annually. I think that's really the main reason that I'm on to talk about it, because it does reset every year. Right? They can get a new cohort of underwear every year on this allowance, which is really, really good.

Moncrieff: Yeah. And so and does that include a prosthesis if they if they require one?

Sinead Sanderson: It does. So basically anybody that's had a mastectomy or a double mastectomy or a partial mastectomy are eligible for this allowance. And you do differentiate between a double and a single mastectomy. So for a single mastectomy you are entitled to up to €400 towards two bras and one prosthesis.

Sinead Sanderson: And then you're entitled to an additional €150 towards a swimsuit and a swim prosthesis, which is obviously something that's different to a normal prosthesis because it has to go into water and whatever else that you'll be using it on holiday with. And then if you've had a double mastectomy, it increases substantially to €650. And that entitles you to two bras, two prostheses.

Sinead Sanderson: And then the swim is 215: so swimsuit and a prosthesis. So it's really, really good. And there are so many different prostheses as well, different weights, different types that really you can build... Like I'm always talking about building a bra wardrobe, you can actually build your bra wardrobe with this allowance.

Moncrieff: Yeah. And the prostheses. Is that something you'd need to renew or does the prosthesis itself, depending on the circumstance of course... But you know, does that last for a few years?

Sinead Sanderson: Absolutely. It lasts for a few years. There's many different types. You know, there's obviously the temporary form—they're called breast forms or prostheses. That's something that you'd have, you know, immediately after surgery, a good 6 to 8 week period where it's much more cotton and lined and it's a lighter fabric to allow healing. And then you go into the permanent form and there's silicone, there's lightweight silicone.

Sinead Sanderson: There's so many different types. There's foam filled which are virtually weightless. And what they're more used for is like exercise. Or if you're on holidays in a hot country. Yeah. There's also for people who have had a partial mastectomy, there's different shapes that match your breast type. And essentially what you want is you want something that mimics your previous breast shape and size.

Sinead Sanderson: The silicone ones are mostly important for people that want that weighted feeling. So it retains your posture. It retains everything that you had before. You don't have any postural issues. The lightweight silicone is then for people that have had back problems. They still want to wear a silicone implant in their bra, but they don't want to have the issues with their back or shoulder. So it's vast.

Moncrieff: I'm laughing. There's so many things you don't actually consider before you start.

Sinead Sanderson: And then there's the adhesive ones. Stick onto your chest bone, your chest basically. And that's for when you want to wear strapless. So, you know, you might want to wear strapless after having a partial or a double mastectomy. And there's so many things out there that people maybe haven't realized that have gone through this—it's bad enough to go through it.

Moncrieff: To get the grant then, what's the procedure of getting it?

Sinead Sanderson: It's very, very easy. So it's either through your GP or through your consultant. So you simply have to get them to sign a letter that says that Mary is entitled to this, she has been through a mastectomy or a double mastectomy. And then there'll be a list of two bras, one prosthesis, plus the swimwear, and they just check the boxes.

Sinead Sanderson: All we need as a registered vendor and somebody that supplies this service is a number. And it's very important to note that you come in—it's a very confidential environment. It's somewhere you can feel safe and secure, but it's very important to go somewhere that they know what they're talking about, that they actually have experience in bra fitting.

Moncrieff: Are there many registered vendors?

Sinead Sanderson: There are more than you think. And it's important to educate yourself on where is near you and go somewhere, I would advise, where it's actually like a lingerie store. So it is a bra fitting environment because the knowledge is vast in those places as opposed to a medical environment, because there's a lot of those as well, where you might be going into a room of your GP practice, where they might have a limited availability of what the options are, and the person that's maybe looking after you wouldn't be as experienced as somebody, like I suppose ourselves, that have 20 years bra fitting experience.

Moncrieff: Yeah, okay. And they're looking at it from a medical point of view. You're looking for fit and function and, you know, what looks nice and all that.

Sinead Sanderson: Absolutely. Women, the women that have come to us—and the reason why we decided to take on the service, because it's a very specific offering—is because we've had so many customers that have been through it and they don't want to go somewhere new now. They want to come back to Peaches and Cream. They want to come back to the people that they like to deal with, and they feel comfortable taking their clothes off in front of. So it's very important to kind of retain the normality because they feel like they're back on track now. You know, essentially not much has changed. You know, it's a wonderful thing.

Moncrieff: Someone's giving out to me. Please pronounce the T in mastectomy.

Sinead Sanderson: Mastectomy, and even to spell it as mas-tec...

Moncrieff: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was kind of either this sliding over the T there.

Sinead Sanderson: I have a lisp. So I apologize to any listeners.

Moncrieff: The, the, the amount of this grant now. Would that cover the entirety of the cost or could if someone's going to... Well, I suppose it depends how much they want to buy. But but you know, could you get the basics? You could get for the price of this, for the cost of this...

Sinead Sanderson: Absolutely available. It's priced accordingly for exactly that: two bras and a prosthesis. And the 150 is for a swimsuit and a swim prosthesis. And exactly the same for the double. However, if you go over, some private health insurance companies cover towards this. So you need to check with your private health insurer if they will cover any extra or if they have a separate allowance for these things.

Sinead Sanderson: It could be a once off with them, but just check with VHI or whoever you're with. But like this, I suppose it's a fantastic concession towards, you know, what you need. We have customers that have maybe been, I suppose, mastectomy... They could be ten years post breast cancer and they want to buy literally regular bras and they take them off to their dressmaker and get the sleeve put in.

Moncrieff: The sleeve is like a little insert that you can put the prosthesis into, right?

Sinead Sanderson: Yeah. So they want to wear whatever they like because traditionally post-mastectomy bras were very high line. What that means was they covered an awful lot of the neckline. So, you know, certain tops they might show. Yeah. And they were quite medical looking. Things have changed.

Sinead Sanderson: There's a lot more options now, but they still would be designed to cover any scars or any prosthesis that you're putting in there. So another option is to get the sleeves put in. But what this allowance covers is more post-mastectomy underwear. So specifically for that. Yeah. So that's what you'd start off with.

Moncrieff: Yeah. Thanks for coming in to share all that with us. That was Sinead Sanderson, owner of Peaches and Cream Underwear.