Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day, or BRA Day, is a worldwide initiative that began in 2011.The goal of the day is to provide accurate information to help women make informed choices about breast reconstruction.

Twenty two events will be held across Canada Wednesday, including various places in the Maritimes.

Amanda Hudson-Frigault will attend BRA Day for the third year in a row. Her first time at the event followed a diagnosis of an aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 32.

“Back in 2012, which would have been their second event, I had the opportunity to attend and that was a wonderful opportunity to connect with some of the surgeons, other women who had had breast cancer diagnosis and had gone through the process of reconstruction, and it gave me a lot of information,” says Hudson-Frigault.

Hudson-Frigault chose to have reconstruction, a choice that put her in the minority.

“In the U.S, about 40 per cent of people who get mastectomies get breast reconstruction. In Canada, to the best of our knowledge, it's less than 10 per cent,” says Dr. Jason Williams.

Dr. Williams is one of the plastic surgeons involved in Halifax's BRA Day event. He says there are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation about breast reconstruction.

“Some people think it's a cosmetic operation and we truly believe it's not that. It's truly a reconstructive operation in the greatest sense, because you're losing a part of you and we have the opportunity to put you back together,” says Williams.

Dr. Williams says some of the information out there about specific techniques is also outdated and there are many new and sophisticated procedures available.

Hudson-Frigualt delayed reconstruction to give radiation-damaged tissue time to heal.

In some cases, an implant based reconstruction can be done in one stage.

“That means you go in and have your mastectomy done and we can do an implant reconstruction, use a piece of tissue called acellular dermis, put in a full sized implant, you wake up with a breast mound and away you go, one stage,” says Williams.

Hudson-Frigault says BRA Day raised her awareness of the choices available and was an important part of her decision making process.

“It's really important that other women get the chance to connect with other survivors, find out what some of the treatment options are and reconstruction procedures are and make those connections with some of the surgeons,” says Hudson-Frigault.

“It's not for everybody, but we truly believe it's a very positive thing in terms of improving quality of life after breast cancer surgery,” says Williams.