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Why free access to wigs could help save lives for women diagnosed with cancer: Donate to help create a traveling wig salon in Northeast Ohio

According to the National Library of Medicine, approximately 10% of female patients will refuse chemotherapy because of the risk of hair loss.

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Call it a driving force.

“Nobody going through cancer should have to worry about coming up with money for a wig,” says columnist, author and breast cancer survivor, Regina Brett. “We can't take care of everything, but we can take care of that.”

Brett is committed to making sure a mobile wig salon, like salons at The Gathering Place that bear her name, are cruising through streets to assist women battling cancer.

Brett and I have teamed up to raise $25,000 for the mobile wig salon initiative by my one year “Goodbye Cancerversary” on March 22.

We hit that goal 12 days into the campaign. If donations reach $50,000, The Gathering Place can purchase a van by their Race for the Place event on Sunday, June 4.

So where does that fundraising total stand? As of 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, nearly $39,000 has been raised.

DONATE TO THE WIG FUNDRAISER HERE.

Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous story on March 3, 2023.

What I have learned through this fundraising effort is that a free wig cannot only boost the morale of women fighting cancer, but it can also be the catalyst to save lives.

According to the National Library of Medicine, 47% of female patients consider hair loss to be the most traumatic aspect of chemotherapy. Approximately 10% of female patients will refuse treatment because of the risk of hair loss.

“I think cancer is one of those diseases that does not only touch the physical … it goes beyond,” says MetroHealth Hematology Oncologist Dr. Tonjeh Bah. “It touches the emotional, the psychological.”

Dr. Bah shared that a few of her female cancer patients have turned down chemotherapy because of hair loss.

“Their outcome is not as good,” says Dr. Bah. “It’s not that they haven’t gotten treatment, they’ve gotten less than what is standard of care.”

She says she has seen women of color turn down chemotherapy more than other patients because they are worried about the side effect of hair loss.

“To every woman, our hair is our glory. It’s what makes us,” says Dr. Bah.

A lack of trust in the medical system and not being able to afford or to find wigs that match their natural hair texture are also reasons why Dr. Bah says women of color refuse chemo.

“I strongly believe if they have the opportunity to find wigs that look like their natural (hair), they would be more accepting of chemotherapy,” Dr. Bah says.

Editor's note: Video in the player above was originally published in a previous story on March 9, 2023.

Rita Williams, of University Heights, is battling breast cancer for the second time at 65 years old.

Chemotherapy is not part of her recommended treatment plan this time around, but she did receive chemo 26 years ago when she first battled the disease.

As a Black woman, Williams says the hair loss did not bother her.

“That’s what they make wigs for.”

Williams says she proudly rocked a bald head with big earrings and a nose piercing. This time she is going through treatment with multiple wigs.

“I put my wigs on. I put my makeup on. I get dressed and I go,” Williams says.

She received two free wigs from The Gathering Place’s Regina Brett Wig Salon and says a mobile salon is overdue.

There are women who don’t have transportation. There are women who are in their house and are just so stressed out they have it (cancer),” Williams says. “There are women that need this. They need someone just to care.”

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