Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Online Community CureDiva Helps Women Fight

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month kicks off, we're reminded of the strong women in our lives — or those we simply know by name and story — who have battled the disease.

While breast cancer may not be going away anytime soon, there are plenty of wonderful resources to help a woman through her fight: like CureDiva.

The online community serves as a "one-stop-shop" for those diagnosed with the illness, and co-founders Efrat Roman and Tovi Riegler used their cancer experiences as inspiration for the site.

"Breast cancer is a new and scary kingdom with many new terms and names and procedures," Roman, who previously underwent a double mastectomy, shares with Closer. "One of the difficulties is…what are the options when we have drains or when one loses their eyebrows?"

CureDiva has the answers. "The site offers 'must have' recommendations of products, divided by the different treatment phases, allowing women to get ready in advance, and gain some control over their lives while we fight this battle together," Roman explains.

With references for everything from mastectomy bras to head scarves, CureDiva aims to make this extremely difficult journey a little easier. Roman and Riegler also began the Guardian Diva program, which pairs diagnosed women with survivors who can be there with them throughout the process.

"What the image in the mirror says is that we are strong," Guardian Diva Ann Marie Otis tells Closer. "The scars prove that we are beautiful warriors and have fought hard. But the reality is we do not see that all the time."

Otis hopes to empower the women she's matched with. "We need to live past the mirror, live beyond the scars, live in the life we are leading from this point on and see the real beauty we hold."

Adds fellow Guardian Diva, Diana Cohen: "Don't let breast cancer take away the motivation to achieve your dreams. Although my life goal was to run a marathon, breast cancer put my dreams, and training, on hold," she shares.

"[But] once I became a survivor, my friends and I crossed the finish line at the Berlin Marathon and I had proven I was stronger than ever before."

For more information about CureDiva and what they do, head over to their website, CureDiva.com!