After Cheri Hauber's ovarian and uterine cancer diagnosis, she underwent surgery, and was then scheduled to start chemotherapy. She admits that the prospect of chemo scared her more than the operation. "Everybody knows what surgery is going to be like, but chemo is a great unknown for most of us," she says.
Cheri struggled to deal with the effects of the chemo. "My friends would bring me lunch when I was too sick to go to work," she says. "My little brother would bring me lunch. One day I was trying to rake leaves in the front yard, and I couldn't do it. I actually had to crawl back to the house."
Read MoreFor Cheri, a wig wasn't the solution. "I only wore it one time because it felt uncomfortable." And that, says Cheri, "is when a really cool thing happened!"
Hauber's sister-in-law Eileen is a surgical nurse, and another nurse suggested she throw a hat party for Cheri. Intrigued, Eileen asked for more information and then decided to make the party. "And I swear to god I got 35 to 40 different hats," says Cheri happily.
With no need for the uncomfortable wig any more, Cheri started matching her hats to the outfits she was wearing to work every day. "And all the guys at work would come in just to see what hat I was wearing that day. It was pretty cool."
Throwing a party to "celebrate" hair loss doesn't seem like the obvious choice, but it helped get Cheri through chemo. And every day she wears one of the hats from her new collection she can think of the good friends who are supporting her through her cancer journey.
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