SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (KGUN) — For 24 years, The Butterfly Club has provided wigs to cancer patients across the country. Last year, they received nearly 600 requests for wigs from women.
Wilma Richards created the nonprofit after her battle with breast cancer. She said she had three wigs and was looking to donate them, when she realized there weren't any organizations providing wigs.
“When your hair goes, a lot of women, for us, that's our identity,” Richards said.
She started by giving out wigs in Sierra Vista, but was soon providing them to women throughout the county, then the state, then the country.
Lanaya Sherry was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 27 years old. She didn't know where to turn, until a medical provider told her about the Butterfly Club.
“I want to say they found me," Sherry said. "I didn't even know they existed when I went through my cancer.”
She remembers asking how she would lose her hair, since chemo affects people differently.
“I didn't want to watch it fall out either," Sherry said. "I think that would have been worse.”
Richards and other volunteers with the nonprofit help shave Sherry's head. The founder says they help every step of the way because they want the recipient to know they have a support system.
“For some of them, this wig might be for them to take the last family photo, because they're terminal and they know that,” said Butterfly Club Executive Committee Chair, Leah Reeder.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 40 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer. Which, is why Richards says it's important to give each individual their own experience, when they pick a wig and when they choose to.
“Each person, each cancer victim, has a story, and it's very, very real for them,” she said.
She added, "Here, the whole group cries with them. We try to be encouraging and very honest, but...we have tissue boxes everywhere.”
Sherry didn't wear her wig often, or take may pictures while wearing it. For her, having the wig was more about knowing she could wear it to avoid people staring at her or asking questions she wasn't ready to answer.
"The one thing that you don't want to have to worry about, I guess, is the way you look," she said. "You don't want to feel uncomfortable in your skin.”
The wigs cost thousands of dollars, because Richards makes sure they are high quality. And while there are cheaper options, Richards knows what's best for her recipients.
"It's the support itself that you don't get, necessarily, when you're going to buy a wig (yourself),” she said.
The Butterfly Club relies on monetary donations to purchase the wigs. Richards says they have a request form and vetting process to ensure all the wigs go to women with a current cancer diagnosis.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
