Creative ideas can germinate from lived experience.

It was a breast cancer diagnosis in the case of Eileen (“Birdie”) Keenan Skrobacz, a survivor who developed an innovative “Robes for Comfort” initiative, sparked by a simple yet profound moment in her cancer struggle last year.

Upon arriving at her physician’s office for test results last January, she was handed a box of tissues. Her immediate thought was, “Well, I’m not going to cry because I’m just not going to cry right now.”

The tears would come later and for a completely different reason.

She was far from alone with the diagnosis. According to the Centers for Disease Control, breast cancer ranks second among the leading forms of cancer among women in the United States. Over 250,000 patients received this diagnosis in 2022.

Keenan Skrobacz’s physician scheduled an appointment at a women’s health treatment center for the following week, raising alarm bells in her mind about the urgency of her situation. The 67-year-old retired high school English teacher with five sisters had no family history of cancer, yet she also recalled how one of them suggested that the cancer arrived for a reason.

She underwent a successful two-hour surgery on March 27, exactly two months from the date of diagnosis,........

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