Cancer is a terrible disease for one to have to experience as it slowly eats away at you from inside to out. It’s a really a disease with leaves a huge psychological scar as the irony of cancer is how the treatment actually appears to accelerate the deterioration of the patients physical body before healing as it cannot be directed at specific cells. Depending on the type of cancer, the treatments can vary but in general you’ll always hear about how cancer patients undergo surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy but there are other lesser known treatments used liked Angiogenesis Inhibitors Therapy, Biological Therapy or the Photodynamic Therapy for Cancer.
In general cancer is fought with the combined use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, both being the current most effective and widely used treatment. The problem here is, neither radiation nor chemo tells between healthy cells and cancerous cells. They just attack all cells exposed to it.
The treatments are as much painful as they are effective and is the literal embodiment of the phrase “No pain, No gain!” as patients start to look like the process they feel. The side-effects of undergoing chemo and radiation are many. They disfigure the body leaving the patient thin, frail and bald. Many lucky enough to be free of cancer in their lives cannot understand how vanity could still exist within the hearts of those fighting for their lives. Surely having no hair is a small price to pay for a chance to live again?
Well the fact is it’s not about vanity. Instead it’s about the fight. As mentioned above the treatments aren’t conventional in their results. They hurt and make you feel worse before they make you better, and cancer isn’t like flu. It’s not a 2 weeks endurance process…it’s a process that would take months and years to the least. Imagine going for painful treatment day in and day out and yet come back looking and feeling even worse than before. Having everyone on the street instantly recognize you are sick because your appearance will not show your progression. It’s de-motivating as you feel you are losing your dignity to cancer . Keeping your hair despite under-going chemotherapy has a deep psychological impact on patients – makes them feel they are in control and they are winning the fight.
Which is why I’m here today to share with you the wonderful device that can help you or your loved ones keep you hair while undergoing chemotherapy. The Penguin Cold Caps have successfully helped patients around the world keep their hair. The specifics of what it’s made of and how it works can be read up on here. But let’s be clear, you rent the caps you don’t buy them (fixed monthly rental charge for a set of Penguin Cold Caps of £328).
But more importantly, I need everyone to recognize the Repunzel Project, non-profit organization dedicated to helping chemotherapy patients keep their hair during treatment with cold caps. Let’s help spread the word so that cancer patients can fight the battle without losing their hair and the need for a wig.
