STYLE. COMFORT. GENEROSITY.

Hello and Welcome to Comfort Beanie Chemo Hats!  I am so glad that you have taken the time to visit our website.  This business and subsequent non-profit is very close to my heart.  It was born out of a very difficult time in my life.

I received the phone call that nobody ever wants to receive on March 19, 2024.  The call was from my primary care doctor after I found a lump in my breast which led to a diagnostic mammogram, immediate ultrasound, and subsequent biopsy.  The call was the worst news I could receive regarding the biopsy; I had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the  young age of just 44 years old.  Further testing told us that it was triple negative which meant that my cancer was the most difficult of all breast cancers to treat.  They didn’t know what was feeding my cancer, so they also didn’t know how to attack it and kill it.  

Treatment started almost immediately with me having a port put in just three weeks after my diagnosis.  That port was used to administer 16 chemotherapy treatments, multiple infusions of hydration to keep the nausea at bay, and then I completed a total of 16 infusions of Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug that is somewhat new on the market. 

During all of those treatments, there were countless side effects.  I experienced chances in tastes of foods, mouth sores, neuropathy (which is still with me), immediate onset of Menopause, and then of course the most common side effects that everyone hears about: nausea and hair loss.  Then I also made drastic lifestyle changes which included completely cutting sugar from my diet, changing to a vegetarian diet, removing most toxins from my life in the form of cleaning products and skincare products.  There was a lot of change in a short period of time!

I remember a comment made by my surgeon when we first met.  He said, “there will be a lot of changes coming soon.  That gorgeous purple mohawk is most likely going to be gone.”

Yes, you read that correctly.  Before my cancer treatments, I loved playing with fun hairstyles in vivid colors and funky cuts.  At the time of my diagnosis, I was rocking a royal purple mohawk/pompadour hairstyle.  I thought I would be okay with losing my hair.  I had even talked about shaving my head a time or two, but my husband wasn’t too keen on the idea.  Sadly though, my doctor was correct.  About three weeks after my first treatment of Carboplatin and Taxol (chemotherapy drugs), my hair began to slowly fall out.  I thought I would be fine.  I had often said, “It’s just hair.  It will grow back,” when considering a new style that might or might not look good.  But this was different.  It wasn’t my choice.  I was not choosing a new style; cancer was choosing it for me.  It hits differently when it happens to you that way.

Not only was I losing my hair, but I was also losing a part of my signature style.  I had somewhat become known for my crazy hairstyles.  I often heard things like, “I wish I could pull something like that off!”

I began to play around with hats, wigs, and other head coverings, but none of them were just right.  Ball caps were now uncomfortable.  My super delicate and tender head was bothered by the metal knob on the top of the caps.  Wigs just never felt like me.  Most wigs are designed for a more mature woman, and it was difficult to find a style that fit my personal style.  When I was able to find something that I liked, it was WAY out of my price range.  And on the few occasions where I did wear a wig, I found them to be uncomfortable, itchy, and extremely hot.  That is when I started playing around with scarves and other head wraps.  The difficult thing about them is that they would slide around on my head and often slip right off.

It was at this point that I started looking into turbans and beanies and other Chemo Hats.  I thought these might be the answer I was looking for, but I couldn’t find one that was perfect.  I struggled with beanies with exposed seams because they would irritate my scalp.  When I did find a beanie without exposed seams, they didn’t fit right or they were made from cheap fabric and would pill up when I washed them.  Others looked like they might have been made better, but the prints and patterns of the fabric were not anything that would work with my fun and quirky wardrobe.  Then the final one I tried had elastic in it which again irritated my scalp.  I became frustrated at the fact that I couldn’t find a single thing that worked for me.

Well I am not a girl that will sit back in a situation like this.  Instead, I went to my local fabric store and started looking for good quality stretch knits that were soft.  The other thing I looked for was fun prints and patterns that would go with my eclectic wardrobe.  Thankfully, I was able to find some fabrics that met the requirements.  I took those fabrics home and started experimenting with some DIYs that I had found on the internet.  Some were complete failures, but some had potential.  I started taking bits and pieces of several different versions and came up with the perfect Chemo Hats.  It was at that point that I became obsessive and started sewing beanies all the time.  I ended up with a drawer completely full!

As I wore my beanies to the cancer clinic, hospital, and just around town, people were asking me where I had gotten them.  When I told them I was making them myself, they started asking me if they could buy them. Had God given me a business during this awful time in my life?  I wasn’t sure.  Then I started wondering if I should just make them and donate them?  I had many conversations with God about this during the end of my chemo and through my healing process after my double breast amputation.  Then one day I woke up with complete clarity; Comfort Beanie Chemo Hats could be both a retail business and a non-profit all at the same time!

Please enjoy shopping Comfort Beanie Chemo Hats, and know that everytime you make a purchase, you are also funding the donation of a Comfort Beanie Chemo Hats to a clinic or hospital serving cancer patients.