Women happy to sport ‘chemo cancer hats’

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

To Linda Kmitch of Sartell, desperation is the truest mother of invention.

About 18 months ago, Kmitch found herself feeling an almost kind of wit’s-end desperation. As a volunteer at the Coborn Cancer Center, she quickly noticed there were not enough soft fleece-like hats for women who had lost their hair because of chemotherapy. She had an urge to make hats, but she didn’t know how to go about it or exactly which materials to use.

Finally, in desperation, she grabbed a fleece hat, took it home, ripped it apart to examine it and then made a pattern so she could sew some more. Through the coming weeks and months, nipped again by desperation, Kmitch gradually became more and more adept, through a long process of trial-and-error, at making just the right kinds of hats, functional but also pretty. A huge part of the process was just determining exactly what kinds of hats (colors, patterns, bands, comfort levels) the women needed and wanted. She talked with many cancer patients to fine-tune her hat-making.

“It was such a long process that evolved slowly,” she said. “And, believe me, in the beginning I made some terrible hats. Just terrible! You just can’t do it right, right away. It takes so much time. And feedback.”

Many hundreds of hats later, Kmitch is happy and – what’s more important to her – the recipients of the comfortable, stylish hats are so happy to wear them.

The hats are made of very soft, stretchable cotton, and each has a colorful band that goes around the hat and holds it onto the head. There are many bands of various colors and patterns, chic and stylish, some with soft fabric flowers on them. Out of the 20 or so kinds of bands, cancer patients can choose up to four – ones they determine will go best with the styles and colors of clothing they usually wear in public.

Early problems

Part of Kmitch’s early desperation is that cancer patients who lose their hair most often have very sensitive scalps. Any kind of wig or hat must be extremely soft, otherwise a very irritable discomfort results, making it impossible to wear anything over the head.

And Kmitch knows that all too well, having had a bout with breast cancer and resultant loss of hair five years ago. She is, thankfully, in full remission these days and loves to volunteer time at the chemotherapy department at Coborn Cancer Center. Having “been there done that,” she not only meets with women patients to create their hats and bands but also helps comfort women who are facing such anxiety about their cancer diagnoses, offering wise words tempered by empathy and hope. She even takes calls at home when patients need to talk, to share, and sometimes the conversations are tear-filled.

“But they always feel better afterward,” Kmitch said. “I help console them based on my own cancer experience. There’s so much anxiety, but there is always hope, even in cases of tough diagnoses. They are in such need of personal reassurance, and I love to give them that kind of comfort and hope.”

Kmitch also empathizes with women’s need for hats. When she lost all of her hair, she had two styles of hats to wear, the only ones available. But they were acutely uncomfortable and she did not feel good in either of them.

Other volunteers also make hats for the patients at the Coborn Cancer Center. Whenever she can, Kmitch calls those volunteers to give them pointers on how to make the hats as comfortable as possible and to try to get them to suit what the women want in terms of fashion and style.

Lots of help

At first, Kmitch created the hats by herself and paid the nearly $1,000 for materials and supplies. But it wasn’t long before other women volunteers became involved – members of the St. Monica’s Christian Women of the St. Francis Parish of Sartell. The “hat team” is now comprised of Rita Meier, Bonnie Nies, Joyce O’Driscoll, Beccy Ruzanic, Aggie Schulte, Margaret Stang, Donna Traut and Rosie Weyer.

They spend about 17 hours together, putting together the hats.

Some of the hats have bangs or fringes of wig hair sewn expertly into and under the edges that looks for all the world like actual hair. Some cancer patients cannot wear wigs, Kmitch noted, because the wigs are too irritable to the scalp, even high-quality wigs.

The hat-making team received a nice boost when Casting for a Cure donated enough money to buy materials for about a year. The St. Monica’s Christian Women also donated money, including some given to them just for the cancer-hat project.

Although Kmitch is retired, she is grateful for the way others pitched in to help on the hat project. Years ago, she never would have dreamed of taking on such a task, partly because she had never sewn that kind of head covering. She had to learn from Stitch One and go from there.

Kmitch, who has a college degree in recreation therapy, worked for 32 years at the St. Cloud Veterans’ Medical Center, first as a recreational therapist and then as education director. Her husband, Bob, also worked there – for 35 years.

Though hat-making is a lot of work, there is a possibility others may soon help out, including some women who expressed interest from Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell. About eight to 10 women receive the hats-and-bands every week at the Coborn Cancer Center, so Kmitch is hoping the hat-making continues for as long as there are patients who need the hats.

More donations are always welcome. Checks can be made out to St. Monica Christian Women, with “Chemo Hat Project” written on the memo line, and sent to: St. Monica Christian Women, P.O. Box 150, Sartell, MN 56377.

For more information, Linda Kmitch can be contacted at 320-252-9292 or lindakmitch@gmail.com.