Oh What a Night!

My sister periodically reviews my blogs before I post them. After reading this blog about my recent trip to Chicago, she told me not to post this. She felt that it was not relevant for my readers, because it wasn’t directly about my cancer. But I feel like this experience was a key part of my cancer journey. I would not have had this incredible opportunity had it not been for the cancer. So – I’m going to overrule my sister and go ahead and post this. For those of you who are only interested in my day to day battle with cancer – please feel free to push delete now. I promise I won’t be hurt.

You may remember from previous blogs my mention of the hair product company Kenra Professional, which has decided to devote their charitable giving efforts over the next several years to helping cancer patients keep their hair during chemotherapy. They are now in the process of launching that effort and getting the word out about this will be critical to the success of the project.

Cut to last weekend. For those of you who are not in the beauty industry (and I’d guess that’s about 99% of you), each year stylists from throughout the country vote on their favorite hair care products and celebrity stylists. The results are announced in an Oscars-like fashion to thousands of hair care professionals at the Annual Behind the Chair (BTC) Stylist Awards. This award show comes in the middle of the American Beauty Show (ABS), a HUGE trade show for the hair industry.

The BTC Stylist Awards was a show unlike any other I’ve ever seen. Between grand announcements of winners in each category (there are a surprising amount of types of hair care products), there were New York Fashion Week style catwalks, outrageous performances, comedy routines and celebrity presentations.

While the standard speech from the winners was how thrilled they were to be receiving this award and thanking those that helped make it possible, Kenra decided to use this opportunity to educate this key audience about cold cap technology and encourage them to learn about it so that they can help spread the word.

To do this, Kenra flew me and the two founders of the Rapunzel Project to Chicago to attend the Stylist Awards. Their plan was to have us accept an award on their behalf and plug cold cap technology should they win. As the night wore on my anxiety level increased – how about if they didn’t win? Of course, their hairspray has won best hairspray for the last 6 years, so they felt very good about their likelihood of winning – but I know that at least I was on pins and needles.

BUT THEY WON!!! As they named Kenra the winner of Best Hairspray (it really is phenomenal hairspray), we proceeded to the stage to speak to the thousands of attendees regarding saving your hair during chemotherapy, with the Kenra folks screaming their lungs out behind us. Oh what a night….

You can only imagine what the trade show was like the next day. The CEO of Kenra, Tim McKeenan, described it as “extreme sensory overload.” With catwalks everywhere, scantily-clad models, celebrity hairstylists giving demonstrations and music blaring from every booth, it was an event to be remembered. Let’s just say that I am sorely disappointed now with every transportation-related trade show I’ve ever been to.

What was far more meaningful than the Stylist Choice Awards or the ABS was getting to spend time with the wonderful folks at Kenra Professional. Their love and compassion for cancer sufferers astounded me.

So – once again, cancer has enabled me to meet people and experience things that I would never have met or experienced. That has been a blessing to me.

For those of you hoping to hear how last Friday’s scan went – I still don’t have any official news. Hopefully, I’ll be hearing that they didn’t find anything either tomorrow or Tuesday. This week is a busy week for me on the cancer front – I have an appointment with Dr. Smith on Tuesday and Drs. Shelton (my surgeon) and Fisher on Thursday. My Thursday appointments will include all of the pre-op work to prepare for my surgery on March 30th. Thank you all for your wonderful prayers and positive thoughts last Friday.

This last week, the love from the Kenra folks and the love from all of you as I was heading into my scan has once again made me realize how incredibly fortunate I am. I hope to provide all of you with an update soon on the results from Friday. Keep those fingers and toes crossed (unless you’re walking the catwalk…)