WOMEN across the Gunnedah region are spinning yarns for breast cancer patients.
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The Gunnedah CWA rooms played host to knitters on Thursday for the Knitted Knockers Knitathon – a novel idea ofCWA member and breast cancer survivor Yvonne Argent.
“Knitted knockers” are cotton prosthetics for women who have undergone surgery. They are made out of cotton thread and fibre fill and are machine washable.
Ms Argent saw the need for readily available prosthetics after she had a double mastectomy in 2017. The hospital she was in had none to offer her or other patients and she decided to take action.
The CWA Namoi Group have issued a challenge to CWA branches to host knitathons in their own towns. The Gunnedah knitathon is the first to take place.
Ms Argent said she had 40 prosthetics ready to go before the knitathon started, and there were plenty more by the end of the day.
“[The knitters] are amazed at the amount they’re producing,” she said on Thursday afternoon.
“They were slow at first but now they’re whipping through.”
McGrath Foundation breast care nurse Nerridah Prentice travelled over from Tamworth to meet the knitters and pick up the completed prosthetics.
Ms Prentice said she knew about “knitted knockers” when she started in her role at the North West Cancer Centre in 2017 and found about 15 in storage, which she gave out to surgery patients.
“They loved them and then I embarked on trying to find someone to knit them for them, then this beautiful woman, [Yvonne], approached me,” Ms Prentice said.
“I’m just really excited. The name [knitted knockers] makes me laugh every time I say it.
“They seem insignificant but the women love them. They’re not hot and they give women confidence before they get their prosthesis.”
The breast care nurse praised the initiative of the CWA and said it would be a “great thing” for other cancer centres to have knitted knockers on hand for breast cancer patients.
The campaign won’t stop here – women around the region are already planning their own knitathons and requesting the pattern to make them at home.
To get involved in the CWA Knitted Knockers campaign, contact Yvonne Argent on 0490 926 917.
