Thomasville store encourages women with cancer to ‘Flourish’

Published 3:03 pm Friday, March 13, 2015

THOMASVILLE — A woman somewhere is sitting in front of a mirror crying. She’s crying because she’s losing her hair, because she’s undergoing chemotherapy treatments, because she has cancer.

During this time, the last thing she feels is beautiful.

Gerriann Kennedy knows exactly how that woman feels. She’s been that woman. Now cancer free, she and her friend Missy Taylor opened a store to help women going through rough times feel beautiful.

“In 2011, I was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Kennedy said. “I had a double mastectomy, no hair and I felt completely defeminized.

“There was nowhere to go to buy the things I needed. I wanted to provide women a place where they could feel good and feel encouraged.”

Kennedy told Taylor her idea about a store while sharing lunch one day.

“I thought it was such an interesting idea,” said Taylor. “I talked with my husband and then asked Gerriann if she wanted a partner. It was such a Thomasville thing to do.

“We want to do good things, to do more.”

Their store, Flourish of Thomasville, opened March 7. It is located at 14004 U.S. Hwy. 19 South, Suite 112.

“There is nothing like this anywhere,” said Taylor, “We provide practical, affordable encouragement. The name Flourish represents what you need to do during rough times.”

Taylor and Kennedy cater to cancer patients with what they call “Break Down Rooms,” brightly lit private dressing areas where a woman can be with her family or alone while trying on wigs or being fitted for prosthetics or special intimate apparel.

The store carries items for cancer patients of all ages and pregnant women and new moms.

“When we were looking for bras for women who had mastectomies, we kept running into all these pretty maternity bras,” said Taylor. “We wanted to help women, eight months pregnant or who had just given birth, to feel beautiful, too.”

In addition to the maternity bras, the store carries pajamas, scarves and nursing pads. Lactation consultants and breast feeding support groups also meet at Flourish.

The store also has UV protecting clothing developed by a woman who lost her 32-year-old husband to skin cancer, a line of lotions and balms designed for people going through chemo and radiation, organic make-up, anti-bacterial slippers, and on and on.

One of the items of which they are most proud is their “Sunshine Boxes.” These are individual gift boxes with items selected personally for the recipient.

“We had a customer wanting something for a 12-year-old girl battling cancer. We put a box together for her with encouraging items with her particular likes and needs in mind for a budget that the customer set,” said Kennedy.

Taylor said, “It’s an unfortunate time when there is so much cancer and hard times. We hope our store is bright, friendly, new and exciting.”