Looking For Wig-gle Room, the Cancer Society Asks for Help

If you haven't had a reason to visit the 's Oak Park Avenue office, you may not know it's there.

Well, it is. But you don't have to tell that to the hundreds of cancer patients who stop in the site each year hoping to gain a fresh perspective, a newfound confidence and of course, a show-stopping head of hair.

A wig—seems simple, right? It's not. It means everything to patients who feel they're losing ... well, everything. It's their femininity. Their identity. 

When a client leaves the cancer society with a new do, she radiates with light. I saw that light shine firsthand when I stopped in the office a few weeks ago to kick-start a redesign of the now rather gloomy wig room.

A client had just been fitted for a wig. She was walking down the office corridor, standing a bit taller than she may have been earlier.

"I look good don't I?" she said to me, flashing a short blond hairdo and a beaming smile.

"Hell yeah, ya do," I told her, with a laugh.

That ephemeral interaction confirmed to me the importance of transforming the society's current wig room into what I hope will be a quiet retreat for clients needing hair. Rather than being tucked near the back of the office building in a room illuminated only by buzzing fluorescent bulbs, we're moving the organization's vast hair collection forward to a well-lit space where sunshine streams through a large window pane.

As a volunteer, I will be working with other eager helpers—including Oak Forest Editor Lauren Traut, and my mother, who has a keen eye for all things decorative—on Jan. 28 to create the new room.

We'll be painting the walls, moving furniture, hanging a donated piece of art, organizing wigs and of course, adding our own extra special touches. I hope to create a sanctuary for women who deserve a moment of peace; a moment not for others but for themselves.

And now we look to you, the community. You see, there isn't a budget for this project (other than approval to purchase a vanity, which we have already ordered and had delivered). So those at the cancer society are asking for your help—and generosity. 

The American Cancer Society can accept cash and gift card donations.

The following items top the organization's wish list:

• 1 roll of painter's tape.

• 1 gallon of Dutch Boy's green D7-3 "fresh as spring" color paint.

• A basket (perhaps cloth lined, but without handles) to store children's toys. The basket will need to slide under a table that's about 2 feet tall. Ya know, something like this.

• Two decorative storage towers (with drawers) that would replace a filing cabinet and Tupperware containers. Here's an example of the kind of thing we envision. Here's another one.

• A bolt of white or off-white lace, like this.

If you're interested in donating, please e-mail me at carrie@patch.com or give me a ring at 630-589-7668. Those at the cancer society would certainly appreciate your help with any of these items and their beloved clients would, too.