Aurora cancer survivor Ariz Bhimani is hoping to spare others from the recovery struggles he faced with his own design of underwear.
BRFZY are compression, recovery underwear that hold cooling or heating gel packs. The underwear is designed to help people recovering from a variety of pelvic injuries and treatments.
Bhimani was inspired by his own experience during his recovery from testicular cancer and his orchiectomy surgery, which he underwent in 2019 while studying civil engineering at the University of Windsor.
“There was still pain, discomfort, a lot of chafing on the surgical site,” said Bhimani, who was raised in Aurora.
Bhimani said while he received great treatment during his stay at hospital, he struggled with the pain and discomfort after being discharged from hospital in Toronto.
“After you leave, they just, they say, ‘Wear some slightly more fitted boxers and throw an ice pack on there and you should be fine. And I wasn't fine.”
The idea for BRFZY first came to him in 2021, and Bhimani began designing and workshopping the product. Having made a recovery and completed his degree in 2022, Bhimani is now moving ahead “full steam” with expanding BRFZY.
“Recovery doesn't just end once you leave the hospital,” he said, adding, “I believe this (BRFZY) would have made all the difference.”
“Knowing you're being taken care of when you come home and that you're going to recover quickly and efficiently. It makes all the difference, especially when we all got our lives and so much else going on.”
Bhimani recently won $10,000 through the RBC Rock My Business Youth Entrepreneur Award, which he plans to spend on obtaining the Class 1 Medical Device Establishment License for his product, training and preparing for the product’s launch.
His goal is to help as many people, like him, who need help with their recovery.