Finding joy

Kristen Chester knows how to live colorfully and boldly. Other women can too, simply by becoming a Caftanista.

The exotic-sounding term evokes the lively spirit behind Casa Danu (pronounced DON-oo), the line of caftan clothing Chester created after being treated for breast cancer at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

Although Chester is by nature energetic and upbeat, she needed a huge pick-me-up following chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy and breast reconstructive surgery after she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer while six months pregnant in January 2020. Her son Rowan was born safely in April.

Later that year, Chester was at home recovering from surgery when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “I didn’t recognize that person,” she says. “I was bloated, exhausted and had post-partum hair loss. I wore big shirts, big pants and stayed in bed for the most part.”

To complicate matters, Chester and her husband, son and parents, who had come from Los Angeles to help, were housebound because of COVID-19. She needed something to lift her spirits.

“I couldn’t change what happened to me physically,” she says. “I wanted something colorful and bright to wear that made me feel alive, luxurious and comfortable because I was recovering from surgery.”

The colorful flowing caftans of the 1960s and 1970s came to mind. “I joked about the idea with my sister, my parents and my friends,” she says. “I wished I was living the caftan life and having margaritas by the pool.”

From searching to sketching

She searched online for something comfortable and stylish to wear. The vintage caftans offered for sale needed mending, while the new styles were expensive or poorly and unethically made. She began roughing out some ideas and, on a whim, took an online course in fashion sketching—a talent far afield from her career in leadership development consulting.

In spring 2021, Chester spent a week in the hospital recovering from more breast implant surgery. Tired of watching TV and reading books, she turned to her laptop to research how to start a clothing line and found Factory45, a business incubator for fashion entrepreneurs.

Chester applied and was accepted into the next class. Her online lessons covered all the basics —fabric sourcing, dyeing and printing, finding production partners, marketing and fashion photography. She decided to source her fashion line in Los Angeles, where she grew up and where her first photo session took place in her parents’ backyard.

Choosing a name for her Casa Danu fashion line was a necessary and joyful exercise. “Casa” (house) embodies Chester’s love of Italy and part of her family lineage. “Danu” (the name of a Celtic goddess) echoes her English, Irish and Scottish ancestry.

“I wanted a name that reflected a divine feminine power,” says Chester. “The goddess Danu represents strength, protection and creation. She was the one who kept calling to me — Danu, Danu, Danu!”

The new entrepreneur launched her first collection, La Dolce Vita, in June 2022. Her sold-out collection included a caftan, blouse and pants made of a silky, eco-friendly fabric in a bold print and bright solid colors. Her next collection launched this June.

A healing journey

“Casa Danu has been such a big part of my healing journey,” says Chester. “Before I had breast cancer and my son was born, I was a workaholic. I did very well in my job, but I was depressed and had a lot of anxiety. Having a son and tapping into my creative side has really helped me heal and see a lot of life and beauty around me that I didn’t see before.”

She has a strong support system to guide her. When Chester learned she had breast cancer, she was alone on a business trip in Mexico, just as normal life was shutting down because of COVID-19. Her husband, Tim, and her parents scrambled to get her on a flight back to Atlanta to begin her cancer treatment with breast oncologist Jane Lowe Meisel, MD, a physician with Winship’s Glenn Family Breast Center, Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics researcher at Winship and associate professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine.

Chester had 10 weekly rounds of chemotherapy. About halfway through, she took a two-week break to induce her son five weeks early. Rowan was born healthy and stayed in the NICU just two days before going home. Happy and relieved, Chester resumed chemotherapy, followed by her surgeries.

Cases like Chester’s are rare. Breast cancer affects about one in 3,000 pregnant women in their thirties, according to the National Cancer Institute. Meisel has treated five or six pregnant women during her eight years of practice at Winship. Research data show that treating these women with chemotherapy drugs is safe beginning with the second trimester of pregnancy, after a baby’s organs have formed.

Family support is especially important for these women. “Patients know that when they embark on cancer treatment during pregnancy, it’s going to be a big deal,” says Meisel. “Kristen had an incredible spouse, a wonderful mother and a network of people ready to lift her up.”

Chester had a known family history of breast cancer. Her mother, aunt and sister carry the ATM breast cancer gene. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor, and her grandmother and great-grandmother died of the disease.

Given the odds, Chester did everything she was supposed to do. Through genetic testing, she learned she did not have the ATM gene or the BRCA mutation associated with triple negative breast cancer. And she had her first mammogram in her early thirties. In light of her family history, how did Chester come to have triple negative breast cancer?

“When there’s a strong family history of breast cancer, including different types, you start to suspect there may be something in that family that we just don’t know enough about to test for and identify yet,” says Meisel. “Though other family members potentially could be at higher risk, you can’t always quantify it with a genetic diagnosis. The best approach is to screen these women closely and think about how to reduce their risk.”

Meisel says Chester’s positive attitude during her breast cancer treatment was a major factor in her recovery. “Quite often,” she explains, “people find meaning in their cancer experience, and that’s what Kristen has done. She found something she needed and that other cancer survivors could benefit from. She developed a talent she didn’t know she had to create Casa Danu.” She adds, “What Kristen has done is just magnificent.”

By Pam Auchmutey | Photos by Jenni Girtman