Joining hands with celebrity hair stylist and committed feminist Sapna Bhavnani and cancer support NGO ‘Cope With Cancer,’ Jaslok Hospital organised a platform wherein women were given haircut free of cost by Bhavnani’s team and the hair were collected by Cope With Cancer to make wigs for cancer fighters.
There are 0.7 million reported cases of women suffering from cancer in India. The country records 25 per cent higher female cancer patients than male cancer patients. Treating and spending time with cancer patients, Jaslok doctors believe, along with the pain and stress that cancer causes to a patient, hair loss during chemotherapy damages their self-confidence too. Hair are an essential part of a woman’s confidence and beauty and losing them adds to their depression of ‘feeling’ sick.
Contributing to World Cancer Day in the most sharing and heartwarming way, Jaslok Hospital organised its hair donation drive second time in a row at Kalaghoda. Women engaged in this initiative to donate their long wave of pride: Their Hair! In 2017, this event took place on Women’s Day with the theme of celebrating the bold and beautiful spirit of women and this year it was back on World Cancer Day with the goal of gifting confidence to cancer fighters.
Jitendra Haryan, CEO, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre, said: “We at Jaslok provide comprehensive care and have been treating cancer patients over four decades. Therefore, we realise it’s the feeling of being sick that depresses them more than the pain of the disease. Losing their hair adds to the pressure of feeling ill. And we believe that happy patients recover faster and better. Hence, gifting them their beauty and confidence back will surely improve their treatment.”
Sapna Bhavnani, while expressing her feelings, said, “I believe hair really gifts confidence to a woman. It is a great feeling to give back to the society as a hair stylist. It is amazing to witness women from all walks of life come forward for this initiative. We not only witnessed women in their late 30s, but also an eight year old upto 70+ years of women participating for the hair donation drive to motivate and empower cancer fighters.”
Urvija Sanghvi, CEO, Cope With Cancer- Madat Charitable Trust, said, “Hair are a crucial part of a women’s identity and losing it to chemotherapy causes severe psychological trauma. Our NGO helps these women get back what they’ve lost by donating them wigs. Jaslok’s hair donation drive helped spread awareness and assist us in our journey.”
The event took place at KalaGhoda and nation’s renowned celebrities like Nikhil Mumbaikar, Neelam Kumar, Laxmi Agarwal and Anshula Kapoor motivated their fans to participate in this initiative.