Victoria's Secret Considers 'Survivor Bra' for Breast Cancer Survivors

It turns out that breast cancer is getting some new support-Victoria's secret. On Thursday, 27-year-old Allana Maiden and her mother and breast cancer survivor, Debbie Barrett, had an audience with the giant fashion chain store to discuss the possibility of creating a breast cancer survivor bra.

During the meeting, the two women hand delivered more than 118,000 Chang.org petition signatures to the company's office in New York City. Their goal is to have Victoria's Secret create a line of "survivor" bras for women who have undergone mastectomies and wear prostheses.

A mastectomy is a surgery that involves removing a breast. It is usually performed by doctors in order to treat or prevent breast cancer--though only high-risk patients have this surgery as a preventative measure. Although many women choose to have a mastectomy over a lumpectomy, recent research has shown that women who have lumpectomies have a higher survival rate.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. More than 1.6 million new cases occurred among women worldwide in 2010.

Barrett was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 36, and Maiden watched her mother struggle to find a bra that fit after her mastectomy. Barrett wears a prosthetic because at the time of her mastectomy about 20 years ago, insurance did not cover breast reconstruction. Now at 57, Barrett hopes to help change survivors' situations with this new petition.

Although the mother and daughter team met with the vice president of external communications for Limited Brands, the parent company, the fashion chain hasn't yet committed to styling a line of these bras. However, the vice president did offer to fly them to headquarters in Columbus, Ohio for more discussions and a tour of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.