Operation Chemo Comfort: 'You Are Not Alone' Fighting Cancer

WAUWATOSA, WI — After nearly 10 years of cancer-free living, 55-year-
old Mimi Nieves was ready to celebrate.

She planned a special dinner to mark the milestone, and her new outlook on life.

“I was ready to conquer the world,” Nieves said.

Then, she woke up one morning and felt the lump in her neck. The non-invasive breast cancer treated with a double mastectomy a decade ago had returned. Her doctors told her that wasn’t supposed to happen.

“It was somber, gloomy and there was no happiness in the air,” Nieves said said.

Nieves had to fight again. Doctors prescribed four months of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. She wore a smile and glittery shoes to every treatment, determined to beat cancer again and keep her spirits up even as her hair fell out in uneven clumps and depleted all her energy.

“They’re literally putting poison in your body," she said. “You literally cannot function.”

Each time she recovered from a round of chemo side effects, it was time for another treatment at the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Cancer Center During one of her trips to treatment, Nieves was greeted with a care package filled with things that volunteers from Operation Chemo Comfort left for her in hopes of making her battle a bit more bearable.

She wore the head scarf and knit cap over her exposed scalp, and rubbed alcohol-free lotion on her skin, which chemotherapy had made dry and brittle.

“It was phenominal,” Nieves said of the random act of kindness. “I was completely taken by strangers who chose to help me in my time of need.”

The founders of Operation Chemo Comfort, a statewide effort to support cancer patients suffering the severe side effects of treatment, might have been strangers to Nieves but they’re no strangers to cancer.

Medical College of Wisconsin employees Carrie O’Connor, a science writer, and Kelsey Lexow, a clinical research assistant, were inspired by a caring cancer patient’s random act of kindness.

In early 2016, O'Connor was introduced to Connie Seekins, a patient undergoing treatment for end-stage pancreatic cancer. Seekins created gift bags that were then distributed to cancer patients who were undergoing treatment.

Operation Chemo Comfort was born the moment Lexow and O’Connor saw what Seekins was doing to help her fellow patients.

“It’s remarkable [Seekins] reaching out to other patients,” O’Connor said. “We said, ‘We have to do something. There’s really no excuse.”

Seekins died a few months later in October 2016. Lexow and O’Connor carried on her mission. They started asking chemotherapy patients if there were any small comforts that might help them deal with the harsh side effects of aggressive cancer treatment.

They quickly learned that even a small gift reminds patients that “strangers are thinking of them and standing in their corner,” O’Connor said.

Last year, Operation Chemo Comfort donated more than 4,000 hats and head scarves to patients at the Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Clinical Cancer Center during their first year of their effort.

The charity now hosts sew-a- thons, and knitting circles, and works with volunteers to collect head scarves, hats and caps for cancer patients across the state.

Last weekend, Operation Chemo Comfort volunteers tagged, bagged and packed 1,585 hats and head scarves donated to patients like Nieves, who recently completed her brutal round of treatment and says she’s hopeful about the future. She's undergoing tests that aim to confirm whether she beat cancer again, and has joined Operation Chemo Comfort's effort to help others they way the organization helped her.

Neives joined Lexow and O'Connor, strangers who became friends, at the group's first sew-a-thon, even though she doesn't know the first thing about making head scarves.

"I wanted to give back," she said. "When I did, we became great friends. Kelsey and Carrie, they are so caring. They treat everyone with kindness. You can feel their helping energy.”

Submitted Photos, Published With Permission