Beatson Ahead With Coolers to Stop Hair Loss

A former fashion stylist is helping breast cancer patients fight hair loss with a GBP100,000 donation to a Glasgow treatment centre.

Nena Barough, founder of the Walk the Walk charity, visited the New Beatson at Gartnavel to donate the latest technology which helps prevent hair loss, one of the most distressing side-effects of some chemotherapy.

Nena, now 49, had surgery and radiotherapy to treat her cancer and did not lose her hair, but she is well aware of the impact that treatment can have on others.

And she thanked the thousands of Scots who helped raise GBP1.7million to support her charity by donating eight special scalp coolers to the Beatson.

These air-cooled caps close blood vessels in the scalp,reducing the hair roots' exposure to chemotherapy which can damage them.

Nena said: "I'd had alopecia as a result of an allergy when I was 17, so I was very aware of how losing your hair can affect how you feel about yourself as a woman.

"Some women say the scalp coolers made all the difference.

"One of the most touching things is to hear a mother say it made it easier for her.

"Her children didn't just look at her as 'someone who had cancer', they weren't scared, and that made it easier for her to fight the illness."

Nena hopes women who have benefited from the treatment will contact the charity's website at www. walkthewalk. org to tell their stories and inspire others.

The money was raised by 8000 men and women, including TV's Lorraine Kelly, who all donned brightly- coloured bras at midnight to take part in last summer's sponsored 'Moonwalk' in Edinburgh.

Walk the Walk has also donated GBP100,000 to Scotland's Maggie's Centres and GBP500,000 to support research in Edinburgh.