The last you all heard from me was we were attending the “match up” for Josh Stone the son of our founder at Brave Ladies.  The positivity in the room from all those partaking in the fight, organised by Ultra White Collar Boxing, was amazing and the support from family and friends was huge.

UWCB arrange glamorous black tie events at which there will be numerous boxing bouts all evening.  All participants are amateur boxers and have a personal reason for beginning their journey. The frustration we feel when watching a loved one deal with cancer is immense. I for one felt helpless. I felt that my knowledge on life as we knew it had been thrown out of the window. My way to cope was to read everything and try to garner at least a little knowledge for the road ahead in helping my friend. Men are different – as you may have noticed – and don’t often talk about feelings. So rather they feeling helpless Josh decided to be pro-active and signed himself up for a charity boxing match with Ultra White Collar Boxing, who are Cancer Research UK’s biggest fundraising supporter in the UK.

The fight against cancer is huge. Statistics estimate that more that a thousand people a day will be diagnosed with cancer by the end of 2016. This Saturday, March 19th, we will stand loud and proud supporting Josh, supporting cancer, through his own fight. Help us support him too through his JustGiving page below.

https://www.justgiving.com/Stone-Josh

This evening we are attending the “match up” for Josh Stone, son of our founder Teresa Stone, before his fight with UWCB. It takes place on March 19th at Westcroft Leisure centre all in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Josh decided he wanted to support his mum through his own fight. Ultra White Collar Boxing to be exact. UWCB will put on a glamorous black tie event with boxing bouts throughout the evening and raise money for charity. Cancer Research UK is the charity for this event and Josh has rigorously worked towards his own fight by training day in and day out. A “match up” is when Josh will find out who he is fighting on the big night and help him prepare. Those attending the event organised by UWCB or donating to Josh’s Just Giving page – which can be found via our Facebook page – will help support the numerous people affected by the dreaded “C” word.

Tonight, for Josh, is about meeting and greeting his opponent. For many people out there the opponent is Cancer. We need to help raise as many pennies towards both fights and reach our combined end goal – beating cancer.

https://www.justgiving.com/Stone-Josh?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=Stone-Josh&utm_campaign=pfp-share-mobile

This month Brave Ladies went travelling to finish designing our 2016 mastectomy swimwear collection. We have so much pent up excitement and anticipation, of what is to come to all you ladies out there. It was simply fantastic to see our 2016 mastectomy collection coming to life. Bright, bold and beautifully flattering new bikinis,tankinis and swimwear for this season with all of the details especially designed with our customers in mind.

We travelled the week after the Paris massacre and it really made us sit and think about what is truly important to us. The appreciation that I have for my friends and family is paramount in my life but do I verbalise my feelings enough? Do I think about contacting people and then forget because “that’s life”? Do I put things off today to do them tomorrow, only to forget again? I guess the truthful answer would be yes! Yes I do forget. Yes I do have an extraordinarily busy life and yes I do put things on the back burner. Sometimes we need a wake up call to make us sit up and take notice, that life is passing by and we need to get back on track.

So, we returned home from finalising our mastectomy collection, happy and healthy, with a renewed vigour to make a few changes in our lives. I have made a bigger effort to be in contact with people more and not just by text either, but by conversing more. Technology is easy and convenient and can make life seem effortless but there are times where we need to make more of an effort so we don’t lose touch with reality. Sometimes it takes a life changing event – like cancer –  to put things into perspective.  Sometimes we just need a moment to stop and think. Sometimes we just need some time…

So, why not take some time for yourself and visit us at www.braveladies.co.uk and see if our mastectomy swimwear range – with mix and match options – is what you have been waiting for to get back on track.

Just a thought for the day BL

Teresa and Aoife with our models.

Whilst watching a well-known television programme at the weekend I heard one of the judges utter these words, “You have just proved that age really is just a number.” I thought that, that is exactly the ethos we, at Brave Ladies, want especially for our mastectomy customers.

Age IS just a number!!! Who said we have to lose the colour from our wardrobe? Would you want to lose the colour from your character? We think not. Do you want to live in drab, dark colours? Or do you want to grab that little spark of inspiration that says, “Yes it is loud, and yes, I am proud.”

Colour gives vibrancy and feeling of life, especially after a mastectomy. Flowers, animals, sunsets, sunrises and of course clothes and make up, can all make us feel good. So why do we start dressing in darker colours and covering up? At what age are we supposed to “dress our age?” Why do we have to cover up after a mastectomy?

We chose the colours and patterns, for our 2015 mastectomy swimwear range, to show how easy it is to look and feel good. We designed our mastectomy range so you are in control of what you show. Most of us have parts we don’t want to show off but why dress older than you are? Why not join us, at Brave Ladies, in feeling good about yourself and add a splash of colour back into your life, before you splash into a pool in our mastectomy swimwear!!!

Just a little thought for the day.

Well what an amazing month! Brave Ladies appeared on LondonLive to give an interview on our venture. Then the following week we were interviewed on RidgeRadio and had an in-depth conversation about our story. After that we had our official launch party to show our swimwear to anyone who wished to join our celebration. What an amazing story to be a part of.

Life is too short. People use that phrase without thinking but, for some of us, it is. For those who have fought, and won, the daily battle of life ensues. Things that, for many people, are simple – like clothing. After mastectomies and lumpectomies this is simply not the case and women are left lacking in confidence and options. Brave Ladies has been set up to give women options back. We want to put sexy, comfortable, colourful swimwear back on the itinerary where it has been lacking.

Our interviews and launch party allowed us a platform to share our ideas. We had a fantastic time and the interest in our venture had been immense. We have answered so many questions about our designs because they are different. We want them to be different because we believe that we can embrace that difference. We want to make that difference a beautiful thing. So keep the questions coming and browse through the pictures from our launch party too!

Have a great day!

Aoife and Teresa at Brave Ladies

Today we woke up and found we were looking back at ourselves on the front page, and page 3, of the Croydon Advertiser! We are ecstatic that people are finally getting to see what we have been so busy working on and also giggling at the amount of laughs we are getting for the page 3 thing!

Brave Ladies is so close to our hearts that, for others to see what we have created, and give such great feedback about it, is tremendous. Both Teresa and I have been smiling all-day and wanted to share our feel good vibe with everyone.

Of course, breast cancer is far from positive. This often-devastating disease was estimated to have affected 1.68 million women in 2012. It is the most common cancer in the UK with a risk of 1 in 8 women being diagnosed during their lifetime. These statistics* are scary and so very real, as are the women recovering from surgeries to be rid of this disease.

We want to help women feel better with our swimwear. The fit, the colour and, most importantly, the adaptability of the design are so important to us at Brave Ladies. It took us a long time to achieve what we were after but we think that our designs will inspire many women. Our journey has been inspired by the stories of many women. We hope you will join us in celebrating this by treating yourselves to something fabulous from the Brave Ladies range.

Have a great day!

Aoife and Teresa at Brave Ladies

* Statistics quoted are from Cancer Research UK as at May 2015