Aurora cancer survivor Ariz Bhimani hopes to spare others the recovery struggles she faced with her own underwear design.

BRFZYs are compression, recovery underwear that contain 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 recovering from testicular cancer and the orchiectomy he underwent in 2019 while studying civil engineering at the University of Windsor.

“There was still pain, discomfort, a lot of rubbing at the surgery site,” said Bhimani, who was raised in Aurora.

Bhimani said that although he received excellent treatment during his hospital stay, he struggled with pain and discomfort after being discharged from the Toronto hospital.

“After you leave, they just, they say, ‘Put on some boxers that are a little bit tighter and throw an ice pack in there and you should be fine. And I wasn’t well.”

The idea for BRFZY first came to him in 2021 and Bhimani started designing and working in the workshop. After recovering and completing his degree in 2022, Bhimani is now going “full steam ahead” with the expansion of BRFZY.

“Recovery doesn’t just end once you leave the hospital,” he said, adding, “I think this (BRFZY) would have made all the difference.”

“Knowing that you are taken care of when you come home and that you will recover quickly and efficiently. It makes all the difference, especially when we all have 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 a Class 1 medical device establishment license for his product, training and preparing for the product launch.

His goal is to help as many people as he can who need help in recovery.