Thursday, August 27, 2009
New ways to feel better for cancer patients
A program for cancer patients addresses health through the nonmedical means of wig care and makeup techniques.
JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times
Marsha Underwood, who had a mastectomy after a cancer diagnosis in 2008, credits her health to family support and the Look Good Feel Better program.
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Two weeks ago, five women met in a conference room at the American Cancer Society office in Roanoke. It was easy to note the differences between the women. Some were new mothers and others bragged about their grandchildren. Stay-at-home moms swapped stories with career women.
Everyone had one thing in common: cancer. But Alicia Hall, a volunteer facilitator for the Look Good ... Feel Better program, wasn't there to offer medical advice. Instead, she concentrated on having fun, looking good and, of course, feeling better.
The program takes a novel approach to helping cancer patients during recovery, using blush, eye shadow and lipstick instead of medicine. Facilitators teach makeup techniques and wig care to female cancer patients. Each participant takes home her own makeup bag filled with products worth more than $200.
Pat Bruce, a longtime volunteer facilitator for the program, has been helping women in the Roanoke Valley since the program began 19 years ago. It is built on three basic principles, she said: It's nonmedical, product neutral and absolutely free. Bruce said facilitators do not give out medical advice and are not allowed to promote their own products.
Over the years, Bruce has watched the program evolve. Participants' makeup bags were originally small and brown, and the product choices were severely limited. Today each woman takes home a large red bag. Thanks to the more than 900 companies that donate to the program, each bag is specifically designed to match each person's skin tone.
"A lot of cosmetic companies donating are aware of the needs for these women," Bruce said. "It's as meaningful to them as it is to the patients."
Past participants have even approached Bruce in public to thank her for the makeup and let her know they are still using the techniques they learned.
Marsha Underwood is one of those patients. Diagnosed with breast cancer on Jan. 25, 2008, Underwood tried her best to keep a positive attitude. Then, in May of that year, just a couple of months after her mastectomy, Underwood attended the Look Good ... Feel Better program. She was the only one at that session but felt welcomed and pampered by Bruce.
In remission now, Underwood attributes her health to her family's support and this program. She still thinks often of Bruce and of how much an evening out, playing with makeup, helped during a very difficult time.
"Every morning I just think 'Pat Bruce' as I put my makeup on," she said. "And that has been for over a year now."
