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When Trish was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 37, she wondered if her life would come crashing to an end.
Instead, her life and her career as a cosmetologist took a marvelous turn. With five months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation, she became cancer-free in May 2001. Today, she manages the Image Recovery Center® at Memorial Cancer Institute. The full-service salon, which opened in spring 2008, offers personalized counseling and cosmetic services to help cancer patients adjust to the physical and emotional changes brought about by chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery.
“It’s an absolute honor to have this job,” says Trish, now 45. “I never thought I would give back in this way.”
An Understanding Ear
In her darkest hours, Trish had no way of knowing she would ultimately become a beauty advisor and trusted confidante to others with cancer –or that she would practice her gentle art in a salon that’s one door away from her oncologist, Alejandra Perez, MD, a Director of Memorial Breast Cancer Centers.
“She’s more than a doctor. She could be your sister, your best friend or your mom,” says Trish. “When I broke down in her office, she didn’t put her hand on the doorknob and say, ‘Let’s call the social worker.’ She stayed and she listened.”
Trish makes it her mission to treat her clientele with utmost discretion, dispensing warmth and wisdom along with makeovers and manicures. And, like Dr. Perez, she works hard to be a good listener.
A New Outlook on Life
By day, Trish helps patients with cosmetic solutions for hair loss, scars and mastectomies. At night, she returns home to reflect on how cancer can be a makeover for the spirit.
“When you survive cancer, you’re supposed to figure out the rest of your life. You’re amazed that you even have the rest of your life,” says Trish. “It’s humbling, and it makes you love people differently.”
Chief among her blessings is Sam, her 3-year-old son, who was conceived after she was told she had only a 5 percent chance of getting pregnant.
“There is such hope, such providence,” says Trish. “When I saw Dr. Perez at the grand opening of the Image Recovery Center, I said to her, ‘Thank you for fighting for me.’”
Through tears of joy, she adds, “People with cancer don’t need much. They just need to know that they matter.”
For more information about the Image Recovery Center, call (954) 844-6814. To reach the Memorial Breast Cancer Center at Memorial Regional Hospital, call (954) 265-6990, and for the Memorial Hospital West location, call (954) 844-6898.
If you would like a referral to a physician, call Memorial Physician Referral Service toll-free at (800) 944-DOCS. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.