Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Going Swimmingly: Kathy Mussman knows how to help her clients find a renewed sense of dignity.




A business that suits her

It's business as usual for Avenue swimsuit merchant, despite cancer diagnosis

By Chantal Lamers

Women who don't look like they've fallen off the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine are usually traumatized by swimsuit season. This dreaded time of year has many women running for the Slimfast aisle at Safeway and swearing to perform 100 crunches a day until their bellies are washboard worthy.

Then there are the women who have discovered a 10-year-old haven that makes swimsuit shopping easy. And their angel is Kathy Mussman, owner of the What Women Want swimsuit shop.

What Women Want, on Willow Glen's Lincoln Avenue, specializes in suiting women of all shapes and sizes in bikinis and one-piece bathing suits. Kathy says about 20 percent of her clients are breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomies. She says clients who have undergone surgery step into the store doubtful they'll ever wear a swimsuit again. But she helps them leave the store with a renewed sense of dignity.

Ironically, Kathy was diagnosed six weeks ago with stage-four breast cancer. "I went home and pulled the covers over my head," she says. "I wanted to stay there in the dark." Stage four cancer is inoperable.

She's no stranger to the disease. Her mother and two aunts beat breast cancer. Her 45-year-old cousin recently succumbed to the illness.

At 47, Kathy is ready to fight the cancer despite her doctors' prognosis. Although her doctors are confident they can put her cancer into remission, they aren't confident they can keep it there. Her doctors say it would do no good to remove the 15 millimeter tumor in her breast. The cancer already metastasized to her bones.

But she's fighting the cancer with chemotherapy and herbal remedies. She's keeping her business open, suiting up women for a sunny summer ahead. Kathy's blue eyes forecast sunny days waiting ahead for her, too. "We don't give up easily in our family," she says.

She admits most people wouldn't keep working. But she wants to hang on to her business as long as possible.

"Actually, it's been really good therapy," she says. "I forget for an hour or so at a time that I'm sick. I felt crummy this morning but I felt better when I got here."

And during the busiest time of the year, many helping hands have been pitching in to keep the business running while Kathy is busy fighting cancer.

"Since I started chemotherapy I've had people filling in for me," she says. Family and friends from her close-knit religious group are learning to run a business, using credit card machines and selling swimsuits. "It's amazing," Kathy says. "I never expected them to do that."

Since the diagnosis, Lee, her husband of 30 years, has become the business' accountant. Mornings, he opens the store and teaches Kathy's helpers how to run the shop.

"She's so brave," he says, adding that it's Kathy's positive attitude that gets him through the day. He says he can't stand the word "cancer."


Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Foundation Garment: Kathy Mussman reveals the inner workings of one of her prosthetic swimsuits.




The diagnosis has shed light on life for the Mussmans. Lee says the family has rearranged its priorities. Things that once seemed important now take a back seat to his wife's health. He says Kathy's positive approach has taught him and their two sons, Adam, 19, and Alex, 13, not to hang their heads down.

Lee looks at his wife with kind eyes, and says that although he's married to her, he can't begin to understand how she feels. But he thinks she's amazing.

Her sister-in-law, Andrea Mussman, says that when Kathy was diagnosed with cancer she knew she could afford to help out. Andrea, whose own mother died of breast cancer, understands what a difficult fight Kathy has ahead.

Although Andrea has her own interior design business to run, she plans on selling swimsuits as long as Kathy needs her help. And she doesn't mind, "Especially when [customers] can walk away feeling good."

Kathy, who took over the business five years ago, says her customers travel from as far away as Calistoga and Sacramento to purchase suits from What Women Want.

Her business, suite 104 at 1261 Lincoln Ave., was once located on the second floor of the office building. But knowing that many of her customers are ill, sometimes arriving in wheelchairs, Kathy paid more to rent a ground floor suite. She says that often women with breast cancer are left with a damaged self-image. "Then you have surgery like that and you feel like you'll never wear a swimsuit again," she says.

Mastectomy suits help breast cancer survivors, she says. Her business is even listed in the Bay Area Breast Cancer Resource Guide. The guide lists medical resources and support groups for women. It also includes places where women can buy wigs and prosthetic undergarments.

Mussman also takes pride in suiting up the average woman for a day at the beach. She purchases swimsuits for people who have been surgically "enhanced" but many of the swimsuits are for women with average-size breasts, she says.

Kathy tries to accommodate women all of shapes, sizes and ages. Women can purchase a suit off the rack or have one custom-made. Suits start as low as $30. Custom-made suits cost about $25 to $45 for each piece of a two-piece swimsuit. Custom one-piece suits range from $55 to $105 each.

What Women Want is open Mondays through Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m. Special appointments can also be arranged by calling 408.294.4345.

According to the American Cancer Society, aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women, and accounts for one in three cancer diagnoses among U.S. women. The ACS reports that about 4,300 women are expected to die from the disease this year.

The ACS recommends that women 40 and older have a mammogram annually. Women ages 20 to 39 should have a clinical breast examination by a health professional every three years and perform a breast self-examination each month.

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For information on breast cancer, call the ACS at 1.800.ACS.2345, or log onto www.cancer.org. To order a Bay Area Breast Cancer Resource Guide call 415.775.5921, or log onto www.betterhealthfoundation.org.

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