At the time of my cancer diagnosis, my children were 14 and 18 years old. I recall the grave moment when I had to tell my 18-year-old, three weeks before he left for college, that his mom had breast cancer. My mother-in-law had gone through cancer six years prior, and my children remember watching her lose all her hair. I did not want them to go through that again and witness a physical representation of my illness.
I wanted to keep things as normal as possible for my kids, because life was not going to be normal for a while. I knew that finding a way to keep my hair would allow me to do that.
Wigs are itchy and hot, and I wanted to maintain my own identity. I didn’t care what I had to do – I was going to do whatever was necessary to keep my hair. That’s when I discovered The DigniCap Scalp Cooling System, and I’m happy to say that I was able to keep 90% of my hair. I was able to attend events and go to work, and no one could tell I was sick based on my appearance. Even though I was losing weight from my cancer, I was able to look in the mirror and still see the person I knew before my diagnosis.
Some may say the efforts to keep my hair during my treatment were vain, but they were made with the goal of maintaining my mental health. Many will tell you that as a cancer patient, there are so many things you do not have control over. This was one thing that I did have control over – one thing that could not be taken from me.
Often times, when we’re given bad news, or a cancer diagnosis, we think, “Why me? What is my purpose?” I found my purpose through my treatment and founded the Hope for Hair Foundation. Hope for Hair raises money and offers hair care baskets and scalp cooling subsidies to cancer patients. We also partner with HairToStay –an organization with the same focus–with a goal to donate $25,000 to them annually. It’s incredibly humbling to be able to use my experience to help others and introduce them to the benefits of scalp cooling.
I’m blessed to have been given a chance to keep my dignity and regain some control with The DigniCap Scalp Cooling System and am honored to help provide that experience to others in need.
– Heather Brown, North Carolina