Hey all you cosmetologists, hair designers, salon owners, church members, and community leaders – we need your help.

We write to you to share the difficult news about our beloved Kathy Voutilainen. She has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of melanoma cancer (stage 4), a formidable opponent that threatens her health and well-being. She has already gone through some immunotherapy and had several surgeries, with additional treatments in the very near future – so we need your help!

Kathy is a loving wife, a dedicated mother, a cherished friend, and a passionate advocate for the causes closest to her heart. Kathy has always been the first to offer a helping hand and support those in need, and now it is our turn to return the favor. After 50 plus years in the beauty business, with the last 20 plus years as the owner of SalonWorks, Kathy’s WaxWorks and TanWorks, she is being forced into unwanted retirement to fight for her life. Cathy loves her clients, her church, and her salon family.

We are reaching out to you to ask for your generosity and kind-heartedness during this challenging time. As we all know, this type of treatment comes at a significant cost and has the potential to financially cripple her. We, her friends and the salon family, love her and want to help her. We feel that any help she gets to relieve her financial stress will allow her to place all her energy into concentrating on healing.

More about Kathy: She has been in cosmetology for over 50 years, with owning her own salon for over 20 years. The thing she has enjoyed the most throughout her career is helping people, whether it be through offering free services or products to local organizations, or providing the same to local schools. SalonWorks worked with the Tops program which helps disabled graduating high school students learn to function in a business environment. Kathy is also a devoted member of her church and extremely grateful her community. Recently another salon in Kent had a fire and Kathy invited them to move in with SalonWorks until they can rebuild. Whenever someone says how generous she is, she laughs and says, “I’m not generous. I’m selfish. I do it because it feels good and it’s the right thing to do.” While a portion of her bills have been covered by insurance, there are many uncovered treatments and other increasing expenses which she needs help for.