After overcoming triple negative breast cancer, Kathy Garrison started a business selling mastectomy products from her kitchen table. Thirty-one years later, her blooming family business plans to open a third location on Nov. 1 in Seven Fields.

K&J's Complete Woman, the boutique started by Garrison and her friend JoAnn Evans in 1990, is known as a “one-stop shop” for patients battling breast cancer in Pittsburgh. The stores carry prosthetic breast forms, compression and mastectomy bras, wigs, head coverings and more — items initially hard to come by during Garrison's post-surgery days.

“(After treatment), you don't want to go back to a hospital,” Garrison said. Her solution was a homey specialty boutique that provided goods and services unavailable to her during her cancer journey. Since then, the store's inventory has only expanded to satisfy patients' needs.

The new K&J location in the North Hills is a result of patient and doctors' requests and the uplifting reputation of the stores' founder and staff. Currently, the stores see 5,000 patients, new and returning, including the first patient to ever walk through Garrison's doors.

During the first COVID-19 shutdowns, K&J wasn't considered an essential business and had to close. Garrison and her team adapted to online fittings and exchanging products by mail, but these challenges resulted in the postponement of securing a third location.

“We thought we were a required service, since people were still getting surgery,” said Garrison's daughter, Kristin Garrison-Smihal, CEO of K&J. “So, we could open, we were all vaccinated with the first wave of health care workers.”

Both Garrison-Smihal and her mother expressed excitement over the new location, which includes among its staff a mastectomy fitter with 10 years of experience in the Butler area.

Unique to K&J is their use of 3D scan technology to create custom breast forms for patients. Manufacturers like American Breast Care and Anoma use these scans to create comfortable, balanced prosthetics for patients desiring symmetry.

The stores also carry compression garments for lymphedema, a side effect of breast cancer treatment that results in swelling. These can also be customized and fitted to patients' specifications and act as a form of physical therapy at home.

“(We want) everyone to leave here feeling better about how they look and feel,” said Ann Hutchins, a cancer survivor and mastectomy fitter at K&J.

Hutchins came to K&J in 2011 after a partial mastectomy and was inspired to work for Garrison during COVID-19 shutdowns. She began pursuing her mastectomy fitting certification in March.

Hutchins said the business' vision has always been about providing compassionate care above all else.

“(We) make people feel welcome in a warm and encouraging environment,” Hutchins said. “You develop friendships ... hearing the patients' stories you cry and laugh with them.”

Like Garrison and Hutchins, Garrison-Smihal is a cancer survivor as well. She shared that most of their mastectomy fitters are survivors, and this aids them in their service of patients.

Reflecting on the legacy of K&J, Garrison-Smihal shared about her mother's participation in a march on Washington for the Women's Health Protection Act. This motion allowed the products and services provided by Garrison to be covered by patients' insurance.

“She's a rock star.” Garrison-Smihal said of her mother. “She doesn't take credit for how cutting edge she was.”

Garrison, now 76, still works at K&J alongside her daughter. She is most proud of the fitter's dedication to the patients and her mission. Garrison-Smihal said their offices are covered in thank-you notes from patients expressing how instrumental the staff were during their cancer journeys.

“A lot of (patients) say, 'If it wasn't for your mom, I wouldn't have made it through this,'” Garrsion-Smihal said.

Appointments at K&J are an hour and half, leaving the last half hour for support and referral.

“Most of these women don't have people to talk to ... we (try to) give people what they need,” Garrison-Smihal said.

Both Garrison-Smihal and Hutchinson said they could share countless stories about the lives they've served over the years, and how blessed they are to develop relationships with patients.

“Cancer is all about finding a new normal: emotionally, physically and mentally,” Hutchins said. “Every day is a gift ... to help other women and hear their stories has helped me too.”