Nicole, Trinidad & Tobago
Breast Care On The Road; The Reality of Breast Care Beyond The Scar
How an anthology sparked deeper conversations.
When I set out to curate the Beyond The Scar Anthology in late 2025, it was out of a bigger desire that was within me, to open up the stories of care that I had encountered through our work in Post Mastectomy Care and Recovery over decades of specially curated interventions at Ms. Brafit.
In our work, we had witnessed the other side of care and the layers of emotions, expressions, sentiments and experiences that were interconnected in the delivery of care.
For us, holding a surgical bra in our hands and placing it on a woman post-diagnosis, gave us a newly established mission, to not simply provide an item for sale but a long-term experience beyond the scar.
Throughout the days in our practice, we noticed that the gaps we encountered had acute similarities and within those, were difficult and sometimes unfamiliar conversations to be had.
Whilst socially, women in such vulnerable situations are generally reliant on the immediacy of a product to attend to expectations of being ready for the post-op journey, most of the comfort and ease goes way beyond the retail solution.
For us, beng equipped with a thorough understanding and an even more important duty of care would allow us to solving exigencies associated with elements of more in-depth care dynamics.
Sometimes, considerations around physiological implications and the social impact of care as an outcome can be mistaken for overcompensation. But the truth of the matter is that scars last beyond any transaction.
Beyond The Scar as a body of work of the film genre was not only our audacious idea, but it was a catalyst to spark deeper conversations about care that we had already been so very used to and familiar with.
Who would have known however, that some of these conversations would have been timely for many people who were in the rooms and a spark would illuminate to bring Beyond The Scar Anthology into rooms across our communities.
Today, this Anthology which was launched on February 4th 2026 - as our contribution to the World Cancer Day people centered campaign, has been a powerful and engaging conversation starter and has experienced meaningful collaborative exchanges with invitations that has allowed people in the rooms and who have attended the screening of the first short film titled The Weight of Care, to truly feel a sense of ease in having an uncomfortable and unconventional dialogue.
Through generous partnership experiences, we have screened The Weight of Care in Port of Spain - Trinidad in February, taken it to Vital Voices - Washington DC in April, shared it with our Red Dot Foundation Safecity partners in India via a global virtual collaboration in April during Anti Street Harassment Week and shared it at the Reignited Retreat in St Lucia in May and June.
The collaborative care in refining the sound of the Anthology has been dutifully delivered by our dear friend Navid Lancaster who is deeply treasured.
To have friends share their talent, time and thoughts has made this something amazing.
The collective messages are meaningful and the stories are at the essence of people centred care.