JOY'S STORY

Fourteen years ago, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, it very quickly dawned on me that the treatment meant I was going to lose my hair.  I could cope with the cancer but the thought of all my hair falling out filled me with dread. Thank goodness I’d had heard of the scalp cooling system from a friend because my medical team made no mention of it.

 

It was a deal changer for me!  I had wavy, shoulder length hair and decided to have it cut to chin level before treatment started. I was aware of all the negatives: 

 

a) it’s an extra hour before and after each treatment

b) it’s cold 

c) you can still lose your hair.

 

As hair loss was going to happen regardless, my thoughts were it was definitely worth giving it a go. 

 

After my first treatment I lost a fair amount of hair, but surprisingly it wasn’t that noticeable. Ladies at our HeadWrappers sessions have said that when this happened to them, they stopped and never went back for a second time thinking that the cold cap hadn’t worked, and the hair loss would just continue. Some say they then shaved off the remainder of their hair.  😥

 

I did return for a second, third, and a fourth time, and after each session the hair loss was much less.  I don’t know if this is the same for everyone but to me it kind of made sense as I felt that as the hair thins out the cold cap is able to penetrate through to the scalp better (this is just my thinking and may not be the case).

 

Four sessions of chemotherapy later using the cold cap each time, I was still able to go out scarf/wig free.  My hair was starting to look thin and patchy but these days with products that cover patchy areas I really do think by using the cold cap I could have made it to 6 chemotherapy sessions.

 

Think positive, think scalp cooling!

 

The technology has advanced since Joy’s treatment, Joy has since joined HeadWrappers as a volunteer in Manchester. 😊