Lexington, KY - Ninfa Floyd likes to make light of the hair-raising, and hair-losing, situations in her life. In the early months of 2005, Floyd, an associate professor of Spanish at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and over the next six months she would have to endure eight sessions of chemotherapy. As she was going through the treatment, along with feeling really lousy, she lost all of her hair. "That was a real tragic thing for me. I'm a little vain," Floyd joked.
Hair, she concedes, is very significant, especially when it starts to fall out in clumps in the shower. Every time she caught a glimpse of her reflection she felt ugly, insecure -
definitely not the stuff speedy recuperations are made of. She needed a wig, and not the kind you get from Halloween Express.
Her wig cost $600, a pretty penny, but she was going be wearing it for over a year. Thankfully, Floyd had a successful recovery, but her wig did not fair so well.
"I was so sick of that thing. I felt like I was every morning putting a damn dead dog on my head," she said. "And that expensive wig Ö got buried in the backyard."
Floyd's friends, to help alleviate the severity of coping with cancer and having to wear a wig, decided to throw her an intimate party and everybody in attendance donned a wig. It was goofy, but it was as infectious as the malignant cluster of cells that had threatened Floyd's life. That informal gathering of family and friends was the first Wig-Out Party -
the first annual Pageant of Wigs, as it is now called. Now the annual fundraiser (which is open to the public and celebrates its sixth installment this April) attracts well over 200 absurdly coiffed partygoers.
One hundred percent of the funds raised at the event goes toward financially assisting chemotherapy patients who have lost their hair due to treatments pay for a new wig, up to $250, Floyd said. Few insurance companies cover the cost of wigs. Since last year's event, Wig-Out, Inc., a non-profit organization, has handed out nearly $30,000 to patients, who are required to fill out an application at local doctor's offices and hospitals. Wig-Out reimburses the business where the wig is purchased.
Everybody is eligible, but so far only women have utilized the services. This Christmas the organization assisted its first child. Floyd says she cries every time she gets a thank you note in the mail.
"I cry because I remember what it was like to be told you've got the 'C-word' and you're going to get chemo and you're going to lose your hair," she said.
Hair is important. Wigs are important, especially for the emotional well-being of a patient. They're not only important if you want to come to the party, they are required. Floyd says she has a box of leftovers from previous parties she hands out to party-poopers.
She also knows where a nice one is buried in her backyard.
Donations can be made online or through the address 838 E. High St., Ste. 105, Lexington, KY 40502.