In January 1989, at the age of 25, Lisa Kaplan-Melnick was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. Soon after she started chemotherapy she suffered from nausea, mood changes, and swelling. Within three weeks her hair fell out, and she found herself having to shop for something she never thought she’d need. “When I was buying a wig, I had no idea how to clean it or take care of it,” she says. “I sprayed it with perfume right after I bought it, and it ended up smelling like sweat, hairspray, and perfume the whole time I had it.”
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Shopping was an often difficult and demoralizing experience. “When I was sick I had to go to different stores for different things,” she says. “Shopping for wigs, I ended up in the back for privacy, which tended to be dark and ugly. It was also difficult to find things like a hat that comes down low enough to cover the nape of the neck and the sides of the head.”
The rooms also have pillow-covered benches for resting. “During treatment I had days when I was so weak I would set an alarm and take a shower,” she says. “Then I would crawl back into bed for a while. Then I’d sit on the floor to put on my makeup. I’d go back to bed for 10 or 15 minutes, and then I would go out.”
