In 2016 Flat Friends UK launched our own #allwoman campaign to promote a more realistic and positive image of life after breast cancer surgery.
Figures suggest that two thirds of women who have a mastectomy do not have reconstruction[1]. Yet, women who are living flat can be made to feel like they are the only one. It would also be easy to believe that the handful of stories you have seen in the media must be the only ones worth reading about.
[1] National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit, 2011, The NHS Information Centre.
Living Flat
- Flat Friends UK use ‘Living Flat’ to describe ourselves whether we:
- are living with one breast
- are living with no breasts
- are waiting for delayed reconstruction
- don’t want reconstruction
- are undecided about reconstruction
- wear prostheses
- don’t wear prostheses
- want Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy (CPM) – the removal of an unaffected breast
- don’t want CPM
Flat Fortnight
Look out for:
#AllWoman Spreading positive body images and highlighting the very true qualities of women after mastectomy without reconstruction. Women in and from the UK will share photos of themselves which make them proud to be living unilaterally or bilaterally flat, whether they wear prostheses or not.
#NotTheOnlyOne Focusing on women’s lives and experiences. We publish guest blogs which focus on women ‘living flat’ – sharing different choices, untold stories, and unheard voices. Not The Only One aims to broaden the narrative and allow us all to put more faces (and bodies) to the word ‘Flat’.
#allwoman campaign
Flat Friends’ annual #allwoman campaign has been promoting a more realistic and positive image of life after mastectomy since 2016. Our popular campaign for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month focuses on women’s lives, and not their breasts, and runs from throughout Flat Fortnight.