Program helps those with cancer return to normalcy

Last year had dark months in it for Darlene Etheridge of Lynchburg — diagnosis of breast cancer, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

“My life was really kind of turned upside down,” said Etheridge, but she found “the little pocket of good time” in Look Good … Feel Better, an American Cancer society program.

Etheridge, wife and mother of a son and a daughter, is a professional in her own right as a CPA, a Certified Public Accountant.

Yet, with the diagnosis, her identity shifted. She became first and foremost a cancer patient.

“Everything changes in your life,” said Etheridge. “It’s all focused on ‘what are we going to do about the cancer,’” then it moves into living with the cancer and living with the treatment.

“You realize you are in a fight for your life,” she said. The doctors’ energy is focused on the eradication of the cancer, and your physical self deals with the invasive tests, the side effects of treatment.

Somewhere along the way, “You realize your spirit has taken a hit, and you need to work on that.”

According to Centra’s patient statistics, more than 1,100 new cases of cancer were diagnosed at Centra in 2006, the latest figures available. Of that total, 217 were cancers of the breast. The number was second only to cancers of the digestive system’s 256 cases.

Every three weeks, Etheridge would go for treatments. And, over four months of “bad chemo,” she said, “I would see this little sign in my oncologist’s office, in the treatment room, ‘Look Good … Feel Better.’”

During chemo, Etheridge lost all her hair, including her eyebrows. In June, her hair was just beginning to grow back when she went to Look Good… Feel Better, a free program.

All the women around the table were bald.

A professional cosmetologist runs the session and patients get a free basket full of name brand cosmetics and instructions on wigs, head covers, scarves and hats.

“It’s about providing you with the tools to help you feel better about yourself. Not a session to put your feet up and get made over,” said Amanda Darling-Thompson, community manager of the American Cancer Society in Lynchburg.

Before cancer, Etheridge had dark brown hair to which she added color. She enjoyed trying to look a bit younger than her late 40s.

That kind of lightheartedness had just about disappeared from her life.

Cancer “is a big interruption in being a girl, and being pretty,” Etheridge said. Look Good … Feel better, “was a nice reconnect.”

The nine women in her session had fun trying on wigs, putting on makeup and trying on hats. “It was wonderful,” said Etheridge. The American Cancer Society has many such items at no cost to cancer patients, and another array of very low-cost wig choices.

Etheridge learned how to do eyebrows. If you don’t have any eyebrows, she said, it’s hard to draw them on.

For Etheridge, the 10 a.m. to noon session was a time to relax, and “part of the celebration of being done with

radiation.”

The program, offered once a month, meets at the Pearson Regional Cancer Center in Lynchburg and is free. It relies on volunteers who are professional cosmetologists to lead the two-hour patient session.

Jenny Bryant, of Jenny’s House of Hair, has volunteered with the program about eight months. She’s found she has greater compassion and understanding of what cancer patients experience.

“I think it has helped me to realize how strong people can be,” said Bryant of Piney River. “These ladies are so positive, it makes me more thankful for the life I have. They take pleasure in the small things, and don’t look at the negative.”

The one-time training for professionals takes a few hours she said. And the sessions with the patients are only about two hours.

The program, founded nationally by the American Cancer Society, is based on the idea that when women with cancer feel better about the way the look, they’ll feel better. The program has been available in Lynchburg for 13 years.

The next training for certified cosmetologists is Aug. 18. Call the American Cancer Society for more information at (434) 845-0973 or on the next Look Good … Feel Better program.