Hair, heart, hope mark Kaiser Permanente Cancer Survivors Day

For 7-and-a half-year-old Rizelle Ochoa, Kaiser Permanente’s Cancer Survivors Day recently was a chance to give up a big part of her young life. Rizelle donated more than eighteen inches of her beautiful long, black hair to provide a free wig for a child going thru cancer treatments. It’s the hair that Rizelle has been growing most of her life, and, she says, never been cut.
“It’s OK, it’ll grow back”, smiled Rizelle, clutching her American Girl doll before getting her hair cut. Rizelle is a poised second-grader from Fremont. In a touching letter she wrote to Kaiser Permanente, Rizelle said she felt like a “super hero” and wanted to bring happiness kids who would be able to wear her hair.
“She started talking about donating her hair last year, on her 6th birthday,” said Bernadette Ochoa, Rizelle’s mom, as they waited in the room set aside by Kaiser Permanente for professional beauticians to cut people’s long hair. “We decided to wait till this year’s Cancer Survivors Day and donate her hair to “Wigs for Kids.”
Rizelle left the doll with her mom and sat in the beautician’s chair.
The hair donation booth is a popular part of the Cancer Survivors Day celebration and wellness event at Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Clara Medical Center. Men, women, and children are helping young cancer patients who’ve lost their hair due to chemotherapy or radiation. The donations become wigs that help the young patients maintain their self-confidence and feel “normal” .Wigs For Kids, an Ohio non-profit, provides the hairpieces at no charge.
But baldness is only part of life after cancer treatments.
“There is a wide range of emotional and physical side effects after treatment for cancer that we need to identify and address. This needs to be personalized for each patient,” says Dr. Susan Kutner, a surgeon and breast cancer expert from Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, which co-sponsors the event. “In breast cancer treatment for example, we have a Plastic Surgeon meet with our patients to anticipate the need for reconstruction after surgery.”
This year’s Cancer Survivors Day theme was heart health: Thanks to constant improvements in cancer care, cancer survivors are living longer than ever before. However, cancer treatments and their side-effects can affect heart health.
Dr. Margot Davis of the University of Vancouver was featured speaker at the event. She is an expert in the relatively new field of Cardio-Oncology, studying the incidence of heart disease arising in cancer survivors. Data has indicated breast cancer survivors are often more likely to die due to heart disease after their cancer treatment.
Dr. Davis has written about the apparent positive effect of exercise in preventing cardiovascular disease in breast cancer survivors. In her speech to the attendees, Dr. Davis also talked about the benefits of healthy nutrition and stress reduction, as preventive measures for post-treatment heart disease.
After her speech, musical groups led the attendees in dancing and movement exercises. Various booths distributed snacks, water, and information for cancer survivors and their families.
And back at the hair donation booth, a professional beautician was finishing up cutting off Rizelle Ochoa’s long hair. Rizelle winced a bit but smiled as each skein was clipped off. Then the beautician styled her remaining hair into a nice upswept bob. Even with her long hair cut, her remaining hair touched her shoulders.
“You look so grown up,” gushed some of the other people in the room.
Rizelle clutched her American Girl doll again and smiled.