Wig salon opens at MVH cancer center
Laurie Chester has done it again: another profitable fundraiser, and another meaningful addition to the Charles L. and Rose Sweeney Melenyzer Pavilion and Regional Cancer Center at Monongahela Valley Hospital.
Chester, 50, of Monessen, spearheaded “A Night of Comedy to Fight Cancer” that was headlined by comedians John Evans and Auggie Cook. The event raised $3,000, helping the hospital set up a wig salon in its cancer center.
Proceeds from the fundraiser were used to purchase furniture, mirrors, shelving and other salon accessories. The salon is a new service certified by the American Cancer Society that provides wigs and other accessories to people undergoing cancer treatment therapy at no charge.
“I’m a two-time breast cancer survivor, and I still get monthly treatments,” said Chester, who works as a human resources assistant at the hospital. “I knew that was something they were looking to open, and I thought that would be a good idea to get that up and running.”
Although Chester never lost her hair during treatment, she knows women who have and who have found the wig salon to be a godsend for them.
“There’s a select group of people that was trained to do the wig fittings,” Chester said. “It’s done in a private room, with the person fitting you, along with someone you’d like to be with you.”
Last year, Chester donated two plaque-mounted bells to the cancer center’s Mon-Vale Radiation Oncology and Mon-Vale Oncoloty suites. Patients ring the bells to celebrate the completion of their cancer treatment.
“I wanted to donate something that I felt would encourage and inspire hope in all of the MVH cancer patients,” she said at the time. “It’s scary when you finish treatment, when you no longer feel like you’re actively doing something to stop the growth. When it’s all done, you’re happy, but you’re afraid. When I go up there for my treatments, I see so much up there.”
Money for the bells was raised through a sold-out paint-and-sip event hosted by Chester, with assistance from the many friends she made during her treatment.
Her committee of friends also was a big help in organizing the comedy night. In fact, Chester would like to make it an annual event to raise money for the cancer center.
“I think that from here on in, we’re going to have a comedy show,” Chester said. “Each year, the money is always going to go to cancer. We’ll find out where the need is for that year.”
And even though the fundraisers are a lot of work, the results are so rewarding.
“In my heart I feel something good needed to come out of something that was so difficult for me,” Chester said. “I see a lot of people of who are really suffering. It makes me realize how fortunate I was, how fourtunate I am. It’s devastating and scary going through it. I feel I was meant to do something to help other people.”