MOLINE, Ill. — Paula Thompson is a UnityPoint Health - Trinity team member and a breast cancer survivor. During her time in treatment, she lost hair and was seeking hope.
That hope came in a variety of wigs.
“My boyfriend started shopping online because we knew my hair was going to fall out about 10 days after the first treatment,” Thompson said. “All these wigs just started flooding our mailbox. I would wear them to infusion, into treatments, and just to it kind of made the doctors and nurses smile, because they never knew who to expect.”
Thompson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. She had to reschedule her appointments due to the shortage of staff that the hospital went through. She said that she went through 6 rounds of chemotherapy before surgery.
“Each time hit different, different side effects each time,” Thompson added, when describing the effects of her chemotherapy sessions.
Now, she has been cancer free for two years and makes it her goal to give hope to others going through the same journey she did. Thompson is donating 40 wigs, coming in different colors, shapes, and lengths, to Gilda's Club of the Quad Cities.
"If anyone else could get good out of these, it'd be maybe another person going through this and wanting something fun to look forward to and to have something fun to pick out. “Thompson added.
"We've never seen an amount of over 40 being offered to us,” said Kelsey Allen, Gilda’s Club of the Quad Cities's program director. “She did take something that could have taken her down mentally and turned it into something so positive, and she made light out of something that is so much more than that.”
Gilda's Club of the Quad Cities provides resources to all people affected by cancer. The organization offers support groups, educational opportunities and social connections.