Breast Reconstruction Awareness (BRA) Day was launched by the American Society of Plastic Surgery in 2012 to “Close the Loop on Breast Cancer”. The goal of BRA Day is to promote education, awareness and access for women who may wish to consider post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. Locally, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Nick and Adrienne Tarola as members of our community who have invested themselves into making sure these difficulties are few and far between for local residents.
As a part of their efforts, they have created a local initiative, Ballroom BRA, as a way to help raise funds to aid in the education, awareness, and access. Recently, they have taken that a step further and even developed their own philanthropy, Reconstructing for Life, a nonprofit agency working solely for the purpose of assisting those in need of any reconstructive surgery.
The Tarolas started the Ballroom BRA event several years ago and it has become a great success and part of the community. As a result, they wanted to find a way to keep the funds raised in our community to help those who would be otherwise unable to afford breast reconstructive surgery and whose insurance would not cover the expenses. In addition, Nick and Adrienne wanted to be able to provide assistance for any individual in the community requiring reconstructive surgery of any type. In 2016, they created a 501c3 nonprofit corporation, Reconstructing for Life to help pay for reconstructive surgery expenses for individuals who have suffered an accident, illness, or physically altering event leaving their body bearing scars of these hardships.
Reconstructing for Life’s efforts will be focused on raising money for the purpose of covering the costs of facilities, anesthesia, supplies, and medical devices related to the surgery and finding qualified candidates to receive such services. Examples of recipients include a person who has severe burn scars; a person needing breast reconstruction following breast cancer or mastectomy; a person who has undergone extreme weight loss and requires excess skin removal for relief of debilitating rashes. All surgery grants will be provided with the goal of returning the individual to a physical and psychological sense of normalcy.
Help support Reconstructing for Life at the Ballroom BRA event held on October 19th, 2016 at Stones River Country Club. Donations and tickets can be purchased at www.tarolaplaticsurgery.com
