Amanda

Diagnosis: Invasive Triple positive breast cancer, Stage II
Chemotherapy Regimen: TCHP
Total Treatments: 6

I was diagnosed with Stage 2 triple positive breast cancer as a single 30 something in April of 2018. Two years prior, I had watched my mom lose all her hair to the same cancer. It was hard for me to see my mom lose her hair and go through the treatment, and although I want to be like my mom, this is not what I had in mind. As silly as it sounds when faced with such a life altering diagnosis, some of the only tears I had were when I pulled up Pinterest to get an idea of what my cancer “look” was going to be. I have a fashion degree and work in product development; I was so sad that the beanies and wraps just did not embody my style or my need to stay normal through treatment. I wanted to continue to date, live my life and not let treatment be a stop sign for my life, just a small speed bump.

At my first appointment with the oncologist, she told me that they had a  machine (DigniCap) and that my type of chemo responded well with it. I was like “Yes, sign me up! Let’s try!” I knew I could pull the plug at any time on the process, but I wanted to at least attempt to save my hair and keep one level of privacy during my treatment. Every time I saw my doctors or medical staff, they were all surprised at how much hair I had. My plastic surgeon still shakes his head.

I feel like cold capping helped me continue to date, work, and live my life as normal as possible. I had control over who knew my story. Plus, who doesn’t like proving people wrong, I know I love it in my own headstrong way. I wanted to make the best lemonade out of these lemons. The hair care steps gave something to focus on beside how icky one feels from chemo. I also received tremendous support from one of the only Facebook groups at the time and have made lifelong friends because of cold capping. I honestly feel that the only way I made it through so positively is because of cold capping (beside of course my friends and family).

I knew I had made the right decision when my mom, who was skeptical at first, told me she had wished she had known about cold capping when she was going through treatment. My sincere wish and hope is that cold capping becomes standard of care here in the U.S. and more insurances cover the cost so that is truly accessible to everyone.