When Randi Johnson was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, her husband, Brian, often felt at a loss to help. But then, when he and Randi met with a surgeon to discuss reconstructing her breast, he was struck by something he could do. The Midwestern father of five, a lifelong tinkerer, decided to make his wife the best possible prosthetic nipple.
“The nipple solution is actually very elusive,” Randi said. “Surgical nipples tend to flatten. Tattoos fade. Or they still don’t have dimension. The … prosthetic nipples that were around when we started, they looked really fake, and they’d fall off. And that’s really kind of a deal breaker.”
After Brian made one for Randi, the two of them decided to offer the service to others. Today, they make affordable, realistic nipples for dozens of people a year, largely reaching potential customers through word of mouth.
One of their sons, Justin, recently chronicled their work in his new documentary “Mom & Dad’s Nipple Factory,” now available for rent or purchase on streaming platforms. (Watch the trailer here.)
“As I dug into creating the film and interviewing, of course, my parents and their customers,” Justin said, he noticed that “in this massive medical industry, billions and billions of dollars in the cancer sphere, I was just baffled that it was my conservative Christian parents in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that said, ‘We’ll solve this problem.’ ” In fact, Randi told me, she and Brian consider their work a “ministry.”
I spoke to Randi and Justin Johnson about the challenge of creating a good nipple, how the documentary is being received at church, and how breast cancer treatment can leave women (and men) feeling a distinct loss of identity.
Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to sign up for the First Opinion newsletter, delivered every Sunday.
