"Good Hair Day" wig drive is underway

GAINESVILLE - When a woman gets a cancer diagnosis, the first question she asks may not be about chemotherapy or radiation, but about losing her hair.

Elida Lopez is an American Cancer Society patient resource navigator who works with cancer patients at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. She is helping to coordinate the hospital's 3rd Annual "A Good Hair Day" Wig Drive, which began Sunday, April 1.

Last year, the Cancer Center at Northeast Georgia Medical Center and the American Cancer Society partnered to collect a total of 85 wigs. Nearly every donated wig has been distributed to patients, according to organizers.

Lopez said it's amazing how women with cancer react when they realize they'll get a wig. She said she met with a patient last week whose scalp was scarred from radiation treatments; hair would never grow on her scarred tissue. When the woman tried on her first wig, she cried. Initially, Lopez thought she had done something to offend the patient.

"She said, 'You have no idea how I feel knowing that I get to see myself with hair again,'" recalled Lopez.

Quality wigs can be expensive, and Lopez said that's why many cancer patients go without.

"It [the price] can be anywhere from the hundred dollar range to thousands of dollars, depending on what you're looking at," said Lopez.

The wig drive will culminate with the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life on June 1, according to Lopez.

The following locations are drop-off locations for gently used and newly acquired wigs. Wig stands and wig hair products will also be accepted.