World of Pink Foundation working to help support breast cancer survivors
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. -- A Long Island woman has made it her mission to help those battling breast cancer get the right support.
CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis sat down with a survivor who says with the help of the nonprofit, she feels like herself again.
"I was diagnosed December 2016," Commack resident Valerie Maloney said Thursday.
Six years later, Maloney says she remembers exactly how she felt learning she had breast cancer.
"I was like this is crazy. I gotta live for my kids. It was tough. I had a lot of anxiety," Maloney said.
The mother of three had a double mastectomy -- four surgeries -- and faced many obstacles, but she's now cancer free.
"It feels amazing. It feels like I won, like I won the biggest race of my life," Maloney said.
She now lives trying to help others, attending walks and raising money to give back to nonprofit World of Pink Foundation, which gave so much to her. The health facility provides specialized bras and prostheses for women, following breast surgery.
"We do have different forms that are lifelike. They move like breast tissue. They feel like breast tissue and they match women's skin tone," founder Christine Guarino said. "The pocket really houses the form to go in and give the woman exactly the support that she needs."
Guarino said her mission is to help women look and feel like themselves.
"Not only for the aesthetics reasons, but most importantly for the body symmetry and balance because the back and the neck are directly affected by loss of breast tissue," Guarino said.
She also helps those with breast cancer cope with other challenges, like food insecurity, offering financial support through the foundation.
"It has been so overwhelming since COVID because there are so many different aspects of struggle for breast cancer survivors. It's not just the surgery anymore," Guarino said.
A former dental hygienist, Guarino went back to school to specialize in prosthetics. Over a decade later, she's changing lives, one woman and bra at a time.
"It's not easy because I'm not a breast cancer survivor, but I've dedicated my life to being what people call the servant leader. There's no greater feeling in the world when you can make another woman feel good about themselves," she said.
Guarino wants to help more people so she's moving what she does online, with the goal to help women across the country.
World of Pink Foundation helps patients with or without insurance, thanks to generous donations. For more information, please click here and here.