--- title: Lisa F. Crites Turns Her Own Cancer Recovery Into a Patented Invention and a New Memoir, Beautifully Unbroken description: Medical journalist Lisa F. Crites turned a post-mastectomy trash bag moment into the patented Shower Shirt and a best-selling memoir, Beautifully Unbroken. author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-08-10T16:55:45.464Z updated: 2026-08-10T16:58:38.567Z canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/lisa-crites-beautifully-unbroken image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/lisa-crites-beautifully-unbroken.webp categories: Author Journeys content_type: Spotlight region: United States publication: The Quantum of Light about: - type: Person name: Lisa F. Crites description: "Lisa F. Crites is a health and medical journalist, award-winning entrepreneur, and the patented inventor of The Shower Shirt™, the first water-resistant garment designed to protect chest surgery patients while showering. A former television health anchor with more than 30 years in medical journalism and healthcare communications, she writes a health column for Elysian Magazine and serves on several Florida nonprofit boards. Her first book, Beautifully Unbroken: A Life-Changing Invention Born of Loss, Cancer, Courage, and Faith, became an Amazon Best Seller, proceeds donated to breast cancer support groups and nonprofits serving breast cancer patients." url: https://www.showershirtinventor.com jobTitle: Founder worksFor: The Shower Shirt Co. --- Lisa F. Crites came home from a bilateral mastectomy with surgical drains and instructions to keep them dry in the shower with a plastic trash bag. She had spent decades reporting medical news as a broadcast journalist and quickly recognized the trash bag as a gap in patient care that no one had addressed. Her new memoir, Beautifully Unbroken: A Life-Changing Invention Born of Loss, Cancer, Courage, and Faith, tells the story of what she did about it. ### Book: Beautifully Unbroken *A Life-Changing Invention Born of Loss, Cancer, Courage, and Faith* By Lisa F. Crites In Beautifully Unbroken, Lisa F. Crites shares her journey through the sudden loss of her mother, a breast cancer diagnosis, and a bilateral mastectomy, and how those experiences produced The Shower Shirt, a patented medical garment now helping chest surgery patients around the world protect their dignity and health during recovery. Told with candor, wit, and honesty, the memoir presents healing as an ongoing process and faith as a steady guide. Proceeds from each copy sold are donated to breast cancer support groups and nonprofit organizations serving breast cancer patients. [Amazon (US)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3GPVBLQ) ## The Mastectomy Recovery Gap Behind The Shower Shirt Her mother had passed away suddenly, and the [breast cancer diagnosis](https://thequantumoflight.com/article/latrece-wright-uninvited-pebble-health-scare) followed soon after. Amid the grief and the physical toll of surgery, she found that ordinary tasks had turned difficult and undignified. Showering with post-surgical drains meant improvising with a garbage bag, a solution she refused to accept as the standard of care for the women who would come after her. "I was determined to create a solution which helped breast cancer patients get through recovery, easier than I did," she says. "A trash bag is not a solution for women to shower in after mastectomy surgery." The result was The Shower Shirt, the first and only patented water-resistant garment designed to protect chest surgery patients while showering. A Class 1 Medical Device designed by her company in Cocoa Beach, Florida, the garment is now stocked by mastectomy boutiques and home medical equipment suppliers across the United States and sold through Amazon, Walmart, and other retailers. The company says it has shipped the garment to patients in about 20 countries, from Canada and England to Japan, Australia, and the Seychelles. ## A Medical Journalist Among Women Inventors Crites belongs to a small group of women inventors in the United States, where only 2.7% own individual patents like hers. No research and development team, no academic financials or resources funding her, only one person's focus, resolve, resilience, and grit to create a product out of her own medical crisis. What set her apart was the career that preceded it. She spent more than 30 years in health and medical journalism, starting as the original health and medical news reporter for Central Florida News 13 in Orlando, then as a news anchor at America's Health Network (now Discovery Health). After a hiatus from medical journalism, wanting to learn the business side of healthcare, she directed media strategy for two large multi-hospital health systems while working as a media coach for a large U.S. media conglomerate, teaching print reporters to report on camera. She still writes a health column for Elysian Magazine. The invention brought recognition that reached well beyond Florida. In 2015 she took second place in the national InnovateHER Challenge, the Small Business Administration competition honoring products that improve women's lives, winning a $10,000 prize and traveling as a guest of the U.S. State Department to present at the WE-APEC summit in Singapore. She received a Patient Innovation award from Catolica Lisbon School of Business and Economics in Portugal, presented at the World Government Summit in the United Arab Emirates, and says The Shower Shirt has been included in a London Science Museum innovation exhibit. She has also taken the cause to Washington, backing the Post-Mastectomy Infection Risk Reduction Act of 2014, introduced by Congressman Bill Posey and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to press for Medicare coverage of the garment. Her invention and her advocacy have been covered by Forbes, Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, Fox News, CBS, NBC, CNN and Lifetime Television's The Balancing Act. ## The Memoir She Turned Down Twice Beautifully Unbroken was not her idea. A publishing house approached her; she declined, then declined again. "I'm an accidental inventor, and now, I feel the same in that I'm an accidental author," Crites says. "I had a publishing house approach me to write this book. I said no twice." The publisher persisted. "They pulled from blogs, speaking engagements and media features to create a storyline. It was fantastic, so I moved forward." What convinced her, she says, was the same reasoning that produced the garment. > "I agreed to move forward for one primary reason, the same reason I invented The Shower Shirt: if this book can help even one person, it will be worth it." > — Lisa F. Crites In the book she carries that thought further: if it helps one cancer patient feel less alone, one exhausted survivor, one inventor doubting that a painful idea could become meaningful, one woman who has lost her mother, one Christian struggling with doubt, then every page was worth writing. ## A Spiritual Biography of Loss, Faith and Recovery Crites writes with honesty and moments of humor about grief, isolation, and [the slow emotional work of recovery](https://thequantumoflight.com/article/quiet-strength-why-unpacking-the-weight-within-feels-like-finally-letting-your-guard-down), presenting healing as a process that continues long after treatment ends rather than a line from sick to well. Faith runs through the book as a steady guide through loss, invention, and reinvention. The book reached Amazon Best Seller status shortly after publication, trending at No. 1 in categories including Cancer, Spiritual Biography, and Health and Spirituality, and was still trending in New Releases 10 weeks on. Proceeds from each copy sold are donated to breast cancer support groups and nonprofit organizations serving breast cancer patients. ## FAQ **Q: How long do drains usually stay in after a mastectomy?** Surgical drains typically remain in place for one to three weeks after a mastectomy, until fluid output falls to a safe level. Keeping the drain sites dry is the reason Crites was handed a trash bag before showering, and the problem The Shower Shirt™ was designed to solve. **Q: What are some must-haves for recovery after a mastectomy?** Patients commonly rely on front-closing tops, drain pouches or lanyards, extra pillows for sleeping, and a way to shower without soaking dressings or drain sites. Crites' memoir argues the emotional supports matter as much as the practical ones: patience, community, and permission to heal slowly. **Q: How long does it take to recover from a mastectomy?** Physical recovery generally takes four to six weeks, though it varies with reconstruction and individual health. In Beautifully Unbroken, Crites makes the case that emotional recovery follows no fixed timeline and can continue for years after the surgical wounds have healed. **About Lisa F. Crites** Founder, The Shower Shirt Co. Lisa F. Crites is a health and medical journalist, award-winning entrepreneur, and the patented inventor of The Shower Shirt™, the first water-resistant garment designed to protect chest surgery patients while showering. A former television health anchor with more than 30 years in medical journalism and healthcare communications, she writes a health column for Elysian Magazine and serves on several Florida nonprofit boards. Her first book, Beautifully Unbroken: A Life-Changing Invention Born of Loss, Cancer, Courage, and Faith, became an Amazon Best Seller, proceeds donated to breast cancer support groups and nonprofits serving breast cancer patients. [Website](https://www.showershirtinventor.com)