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After docs recognized Paula Estrada with breast most cancers in 2009, the then 41-year-old Argentine determined she wouldn’t solely beat the illness, however would accomplish that with out shedding her lengthy blonde hair to the ravages of chemotherapy.
At her residence in Buenos Aires, Estrada, a graphic designer by career, set about making a makeshift cooling cap out of ice packs to maintain her scalp chilly – and thrust back hair loss.
It labored, and “nobody realized that I was undergoing chemotherapy,” mentioned Estrada, now 54.
BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR’S INCLUSIVE LINGERIE BRAND CATERS TO DIAGNOSED WOMEN
Scalp cooling, a solution to constrict blood vessels and hold chemotherapy medication from reaching hair follicles, has existed in some kind for many years. The Paxman Scalp Cooling cap, for instance, was launched in Britain in 1997 and earned U.S. FDA approval in 2017.
Paula Estrada exhibits off her cooling cap that helped her hold her hair whereas she was going by way of chemo remedy, and is now serving to others do the identical by providing the caps for under $2.
(REUTERS/Matias Baglietto)
However in 2009, cooling caps have been an unknown in Argentina, Estrada mentioned.
“When I finished, I said ‘I’m not going to keep this for myself, I want everyone to have this as a possibility,” she recalled.
Estrada’s ‘Quimo con pelo’ cap will be made with gels that price as little as $2 – a lifesaver in a rustic going through financial struggles and the place various cooling caps can price $100 a session.
On social media, sufferers in Argentina and all over the world share directions on easy methods to make the caps and donate them once they’re completed.
The caps should be used starting with the primary chemo session, saved at -4 levels Fahrenheit (-20 levels Celsius), and altered each half-hour.
COOLING CAPS HELP WOMEN KEEP HAIR DURING BREAST CANCER CHEMO
“It’s worth it,” mentioned Mariangeles Fernandez, a 48-year-old liver most cancers affected person. “It lets you fight the disease in a different way.”
Estrada, who’s now writing a e-book about her expertise, says she hears from sufferers daily whose most cancers journeys have been improved by the caps.
“I think the (cap) has been the key to my state of mind,” mentioned Elsa Ram, a 64-year-old retiree with breast most cancers. “This is a big part of a good treatment.”
