Support Meredith Through Her 2nd Breast Cancer

As many (if not all) of you reading this know, Meredith was recently diagnosed with breast cancer—for a second time—on March 25, 2022. She made the decision this time to be more open about what she is going through, and she disclosed her diagnosis to family and friends within days of finding out. In a post on Facebook, she wrote about how significantly she was impacted by losing all her hair as a result of chemo the first time around, and the benefits and burdens she faced as a result of wearing a wig.

Meredith is going to start another round of chemo on April 21, 2022, which will last for about three months. But this time, there is a new technology available that will prevent most, if not all of her hair from falling out. There is a Canadian company called Penguin Cold Caps which rents ‘cold caps’ which cancer patients can wear while undergoing chemo. Since the chemo drugs indiscriminately target and kill the fastest growing cells in the body (i.e. the tumour cells), they also target other fast-growing cells like the hair. By cooling the scalp while the chemo drugs are being injected, these caps prevent blood flow to the scalp, and therefore help prevent the hair follicles from being targeted by the drugs. Given the drug regime she will be given, Meredith has been told by her oncologist that these cold caps will give her an extremely high likelihood of keeping most of her hair, with possibly only minor thinning.

However, patients who want to use these cold caps must pay for them out of pocket. The rental fee for the caps, plus the cost of the dry ice you must purchase each week to keep them cold while getting the chemotherapy, will be upwards of $3000. If you’re looking for some way to support Meredith as she goes through chemo and surgery all over again, any amount you could donate towards this cost would be appreciated so much. Being able to keep all her hair will allow her to recover so much more quickly, and move on with her life in a way she didn’t thing was possible only a week ago.

Thank you in advance for all of your support.

 

If you want to learn more about Penguin Cold Caps, or know someone who might be able to benefit from them, you can check out their website at www.penguincoldcaps.ca.