This morning I woke up and turned on Good Morning America, albeit 20 minutes before 9 a.m. And there she was: Robin Roberts - without her flippy wig. Her hair was cut close. She looked radiant and happy and positive and just ...
I felt the tears pool.
I've been watching breast cancer since she announced her diagnosis last fall. Roberts has been handling her illness with amazing dignity. She's taken few days off. And when she's at work, she's really there. About a month ago, the Friday morning before her last last chemo treatment the GMA gang played Celebration, by Kool and the Gang, and danced in the studio. She was so happy. You could see the joy in her eye. The questions about her health were about to be over at least for a time. I teared up that morning, too.
This morning when I saw her sans wig, I thought, "This is great." Forget about the hair! Roberts overcame her fears and showed America she was healing. That's major. Her hair will grow back. And amazingly, she never lost her spirit.
Are there any cancer survivors out there who want to share how you felt when you took off that wig? Did you know, really know that you were healing?
Comments (4)
Oh yes!!!
I ordered 3 wigs; 2 from the American Cancer Society. I never wore any of them.
I work in construction and have to wear a hard hat. Wigs don't work with hard hats. Therefore, I wore doo-rags, particularly colorful ones with peppers and flames.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Stage 2, Type 3 in November, 2006. 2 surgeries later, I began chemo in February, 2007. Less than one week after my first treatment, on a Friday, the hair started falling out the following Thursday. The following Monday, I took a shower and it looked like a beauty shop floor had hit my tub. Thank God I had a doo-rag to wear to work that day! On Friday (two weeks apart) I had my next treatment and a girlfriend wine party to shave my head.
After eight treatments of chemo, I commenced 40 treatments of radiation. July, 2007 was my last treatment of radiation. My hair started to return in early June, and I quit wearing my doo-rag in September, but not at work (because I have the biggest ears outside of an elephant and looked silly in my hard hat). I have since had 2 hair cuts and finally the baby fine hair is leaving and the coarser hair of my past is returning.
Today is the day I see my chemo oncologist to see about removing the port-o-cath. This is a hallmark day for me.
Let me just say, that I, too, worked throughout this whole nightmare. I took one Friday off every 2 weeks; the Friday of my chemo. I worked every day during my radiation treatments, just missing the first hour of the work day to receive my radiation. I was blessed that I never got sick, except in the middle of my chemo treatments, when a fellow came to work with a cold and in my compromised position, put me in the hospital for a week. Other than that, I worked, worried and waited for it all to end.
In November, I underwent Cardiac Oblation, for some electrical problems in my heart. That seems to have gone well, too.
There's always hope and if you keep your faith in yourself and in your treatments, and keep working if you can, you will survive this nightmare and come out stronger for it.
Here's to hair and good spirits!
Please be sure to donate your wigs back to the hospital, as there are many women who cannot afford to buy a wig!
Sincerely,
Whitney
Posted by Whitney Brown | April 23, 2008 8:42 AM
Posted on April 23, 2008 08:42
Ah, yes, I remember well the day when I took off my wig. I work in an office and wore my wig faithfully every day, even though it annoyed me to NO end. On a beautiful June morning, I woke up and decided that day was the first day of the rest of my life. I ripped the wig off my head, gelled and spiked what little hair I had and went to work. Without fail, everyone in my office told me how great I looked.
That's when I knew I was actually healing. It was five years ago and I am cancer-free.
My hat is off to Robin Roberts - I say keep up the wonderful attitude and you'll come out of this a stronger person.
Posted by Lynne Kosher | April 23, 2008 12:24 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 12:24
Four years ago this spring I had a dressy dinner to go to at our golf club. It was just too hot to put the wig on. I only wore it to go out, as other folks seemed upset by my baldness. So I picked out a dress that would coordinate with my "sort of" gray fuzz, put on some make-up, some killer earrings and off I went. My fashionista pals were impressed with my"matching outfit", and oohed and aahed over my new look. Some of the men were a little put off, as one told me, not by the baldness itself, but the reason for it made him sad. My husband is bald and he was cool with my new do, he even shaved my head when the hair started falling out. I felt so relieved not to have to hide behind that wig, that I put it away and never wore it again. That's when the real healing began, knowing that your pals are with you no matter what. It's been four years, and the hair is back, I am cancer free, and the wig has gone on to help someone else on their journey. My debut was not as public as Robin's, but for me it was just as freeing. On behalf of all my sister survivors, thank you for your tears, and let's hope we won't have to weep for our daughters. Let's cure this!!! LESLIE SKILTON
Posted by leslie skilton | April 23, 2008 7:34 PM
Posted on April 23, 2008 19:34
Please see "Turning Heads: Portraits of Grace, Inspiration, and Possibilites" an album of the most beautiful photographs of women who are bald because of chemotherapy with their comments. Roberts interviewed the compiler Jackson Hunsicker before her own diagnosis.
Posted by Linda Stanley | April 30, 2008 8:56 PM
Posted on April 30, 2008 20:56