A more than skin deep makeover for breast cancer survivors 

“If only every day was like today!” The remark seems to take on a life of its own, rising above the excitement to capture the magic of the moment.

It’s been a laughter-filled May afternoon at Dee’s Salon on Nairobi’s Ngong Road. Not even the occasional drizzle can dampen the mood. Hair, it seems, will always be women’s crowning glory. The hairdos and makeup in the room are beautifully crafted masterpieces. Compliments flow. The décor is cheerful: pink and white balloons, gorgeous bouquets of roses.

But the jovial atmosphere runs deeper than cheery décor or a nice hairdo.

The pink balloons tell a story. Pink for girls, yes — but pink also for breast cancer. And 11 women, all cancer survivors, have just had a makeover. Looking striking, they enjoy the feeling of being pampered, being loved, being beautiful despite cancer.

Diana “Dee” Aketch, the proprietor of the salon, sits back and watches the joyful faces, happy with her day’s work. It has been a long but satisfying day for the beautician who offers free makeovers to cancer survivors, simply for the pleasure of seeing them laugh; of seeing their spirits lifted.

Is it Breast Cancer Awareness month, you may be wondering. No, that was back in October and is still four months away. But for Dee, cancer awareness is not confined to any particular month — not since one day last year when cancer came knocking too close for comfort.

“A friend of mine who was also my most regular client at the salon didn’t come in for several months,” Dee recounts. “When she finally called, she explained that she would be coming in with a special request.” 

She did come in alright, but Dee was astounded by the change in her friend’s appearance and demeanour.

“She had lost a lot of weight, she looked really sad. She had been diagnosed with cancer and been through several months of treatment.”

“I’ve lost all your hair,” her friend said. She had always jokingly referred to her hair as belonging to Dee, who had taken such great care of it.

Because cancer cells divide rapidly, chemotherapy targets all rapidly dividing cells. Hair follicles are among the fastest dividing cells, so the chemotherapy drugs target them too, causing hair loss. Depending on the drugs used, some people lose the hair on their heads; others may lose facial hair as well — their eyebrows and eyelashes.

Dee’s friend made a request that was simple and humbling. “I have only Sh4,000,” she said. “Can you get me a wig?”

MOVING STORIES

Remarkable ideas are often born in tough times. This was one such moment. Moved by her friend’s predicament, Dee planned to surprise her. It costs upward of Sh20,000 to make a good wig. Dee purchased the human hair weave which she and her team stitched together to make a magnificent wig for her friend. Dee then invited her into the salon for a makeover and presented the wig to her. Her friend was transformed. She looked so good, her spirits were lifted and she had a smile on her face, Dee recalls.

An emotional Dee is forced to take a break from her narration. In a while she is able to continue. She recounts other moving stories: one of an 11-year-old girl who had lost her hair in the course of her treatment for Leukemia. She wanted to look like a princess for her birthday, and with a beautiful wig on her head and a large smile on her face, her dream came true. After another break to stem the tears, Dee explains, “they start as clients, they become friends, and I get attached. It’s not easy”.

Kindness begets kindness

Where does she get the strength to keep doing it? Dee admits that a couple of times she has decided to stop doing the makeovers because of the emotional toll, but when she looks at the pictures of the smiling clients and recalls their joy, she wonders, “why would I stop!”

Her husband, Austine Mulama, who is at the salon when Lifestyle visits –  helping out with logistics – is her greatest supporter. Her mother Dorcas is in the salon as well to offer support. On this day, for the 11 cancer survivors’ free makeovers, Dee is working with three of her staff –  Ruth, Jackie and Betty – while the rest continue to take regular clients. Eleven may seem like a lot, but not so for this team.

“We have done as many as 60 makeovers in a day,” Dee says, explaining that she often gets help from volunteers and well-wishers.

There’s no shortage of well-wishers at Dee’s on that day, from the beautiful roses sent by her friend Polly, to the buffet lunch donated by Jiweke Tavern. Earlier, Kenya Medical Training College canteen provided a wholesome wimbi porridge and snacks for early arrivals, and Terry “Mama Twins” Nzomo, author of Kenyan Smoothie Recipes has brought healthy veggie juices and is in attendance to explain to the women how to make them. Nutrition is important both during and after cancer treatment. Proper nutrition helps keep up one’s energy to go through treatment and recover faster. After a heartfelt prayer by Evangelist Wacuka, who is at hand to offer spiritual encouragement, volunteers Vera Cruise and Mary Anne Lasoi busy themselves welcoming the guests and serving food, fruit and juice.

Many of the donors who give out wigs or weaves that Dee can hand stitch are not in attendance on this day. Some send juice or sandwiches or flowers from time to time; whatever can help lift up the spirits of a sister battling cancer. When donations fizzle out, Dee foots the bills herself, but on this day she is happy to have lots of support.

The presence of Carolyne Ng’ang’a, founder of HELD Sister Foundation, is particularly appreciated by the 11 cancer survivors. She herself battled cancer and knows how it feels to walk the road of diagnosis and treatment without anyone to hold your hand. On this day, she is giving her time to encourage the 11; to let them know that they need not walk alone. “Cancer survivors need to heal from the head first,” she says — figuratively and literally, it seems, considering the circumstances at the salon. In a roundtable, Carolyne shares her own story and encourages each of the women to do the same. It is a time to exhale; to feel heard, understood and cared for. 

I WISH EVERY DAY WAS LIKE TODAY

Eunice, 43, is very happy about her makeover and the support she has received at the Salon.

“I’ve been through hard times,” she says, “but today I’m assured that God remembers me.”

Eunice, who is a survivor of stage 4 breast cancer — a severe phase of the disease, recalls how she dared not even tell people in her rural home the severity of her diagnosis. “I would tell them it was stage 3,” she recalls. “I did not want anyone to discourage me.”

Judy, 29, is in her sixth month of treatment. She had to relocate from Mombasa and is now living by herself in Nairobi while she undegoes treatment. She lost her hair after one month of treatment. Today she looks radiant in her new hairdo and makeup, but more so from the joy radiating from her eyes and spreading into the smile on her face.

“I wish every day was like today!” she says, probably unaware that she has summarised the sentiments of every person in the room.

For a beautiful end to a remarkable day, Dee cuts a delicious cake provided by her friend, Praise. Then it is hugs and smiles all around as the 11 prepare to return to Nairobi’s Texas Cancer Centre where they receive their treatment. Some of the women have yet to complete their radiation therapy for the day, but with their spirits lifted, they are prepared for the battle.

Dee and her staff have done a spectacular job on the hair and makeup. But the makeover is more than skin deep. There’s a glow on their faces and a shine in their eyes that can come only from feeling loved; a makeover of the soul.

For Dee, this may be the end of this makeover session, but there are many more to come. In the past year or so, she says she has done close to 500 free makeovers for cancer survivors, while still continuing to run a busy salon business.

She has been in the business for the last 20 years, but this last year has given a new and profound meaning to her work that may explain the shine in her own eyes and the beautiful glow on her face.

***

Early detection best way to beat cancer

Most cancer cases in the country are caught too late when treatment does not do much. As a result, about 60 people die every day from cancer or related complications, statistics from the Ministry of Health show.

Those who survive are forced to live with the after-effects of the doses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the rest of their lives.

Some of these after-effects include chronic fatigue which could last for as many as three months, infertility, loss of breasts, limbs, hair, teeth, ears and in some cases the nose and nails.

The survivors also risk a recurrence of the disease or the development of new cancers, heart complications, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, fatigue, bone loss, obesity, among others, according to the European School of Oncology.

These side-effects tend to impact on the general well-being of the survivors including loss of self-esteem.

Ovarian cancer survivor Miriam Wangeci Gachago, 65, knows this too well. She was treated for cancer in 2011 and 2014.

“Once you share your diagnosis with others, you are met with a lot of discouragement and despair. You see the question on their faces. How much time did they say you have? This has an impact on the stability of a patient,” Ms Gachago tells the Sunday Nation.

Such discouraging mindsets tend to devastate survivors, hence the need for a strong support system such as family, so that the patient is not blown away.

“My husband was there for me during the diagnosis and throughout the treatment. My grown-up children would take me to hospital and one who was in the UK even returned to stay with me. This was my frontline support system,” she says.

The church, too, offered the much needed prayers and spiritual guidance she needed to go through the various chemotherapy sessions.

Both Mrs Gachago and Mr David Makumi, an Oncologist and Chairman of the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations, agree that support groups comprising people with common experiences or concerns are the props that most cancer patients lean on to cope with the disease and its effects.

“It is such groups, set up for specific cancers in institutions, communities and in religious settings where patients and survivors can express their fears, what they are going through and learn how others are handling the disease,” says Mr Makumi.

Such groups, Mr Makumi adds, even go out of their way to organise for members to get bra prosthetics especially for women who have lost their breasts due to breast cancer.

Others, such as those suffering from bowel or colorectal cancers, are given colostomy or urostomy bags to collect urine after bladder surgery.

Instead of going to the bladder, the urine goes to the abdomen. On the other hand, the colostomy bag collects waste products that would normally pass through a person’s rectum and anus.

He adds: “These bags are expensive and this adds pressure to patients. The donation by the support groups is not structured and is dependent on international donors which is not entirely sustainable.”

Mr Makumi insists: “We need to critically discuss the recovery and rehabilitation path of cancer patients, after-care and follow-up support services such as counselling and prosthetics to be covered by the National Hospital Insurance Fund for instance. Otherwise, it will be hard for patients to pay out of pocket after the costly cancer treatment.”

Indeed, the costs of cancer treatment is too exorbitant and out of rich for many Kenyan households. For instance, about four out of every five cancer patients incur debt while seeking treatment, according to a survey titled “the socio-economic effect of cancer on patients’ livelihoods in Kenyan households.”

Most families interviewed at Nairobi’s Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret and the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi pay out-of-pocket for treatment through income, savings and borrowing, while others are even forced to sell assets.

Costs aside, the emotional and psychological strain of cancer on its patients and survivors is equally draining. This is because, cancer — just like diabetes, HIV and arthritis — is twice more likely to lead patients to depression than those suffering from other diseases. At this time too, some patients lose their jobs as well as their spouses, leading to financial and emotional strain. 

“Unfortunately, we do not have a facility that provides a comprehensive rehabilitation for cancer patients — counselling and the like. We also do not have specialised physiotherapists for cancer patients such as dental oncologists or those who mould artificial ears or noses for patients. Therefore, patients leave with the disfiguration which then adds to their challenges including stigma,” Mr Makumi says.

–BY EUNICE KILONZO