Ahead of Our Time
Living with Permanent Chemo-Induced Alopecia
Ahead of Our Time
Empower and Educate contd.
Elation because I finally had my story out there. And worry in case there were any legal repercussions after my candid confessions. But it was my story, and I was going to tell it, my way and damn the consequences!
Deep down I thought a few family and close friends might buy it and then it would fade into obscurity. How wrong I was. After several years I was still receiving invitations to take part in radio and podcast interviews, media articles needed writing and websites requested blogs. Even to this day, I receive emails from women desperate for knowledge.
The whole purpose of baring my soul was to help other women who had received a breast cancer diagnosis and were facing chemotherapy drug Taxotere/Docetaxel. I was also reaching out to women who had finished their treatment and were feeling like a freak because their hair hadn’t grown back and whose oncologists were dismissing their questions as trivial.
I wanted to empower these patients. Give them the knowledge they were craving, enough so they would keep asking those awkward questions, putting pressure on those that were claiming they had never heard of it or seen it before.
As the years have passed, scalp-cooling has become more available and even if a woman still loses her hair, this device can still help protect the hair follicle from permanent damage. With more young women being diagnosed, this device could go a long way in preserving not only their mental health but the mental health of their families.
In the last week, we learned of the sad passing of Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding, aged 39. I was reading a recent interview given by her in which she announced that she had turned down radiotherapy (to try to extend her life) because she didn’t want to lose her trademark blond locks.
It’s not just hair.
Hair matters.
Mental health matters.
#breastcancer #scalpcooling #permanentalopecia #SarahHarding #mentalhealth #chemotherapy #GirlsAloud #radiotherapy #HairFollicle