Cancer Survivors Reap Royal Beauty Treatments

HIGHLAND PARK – Though Barbara Paget’s Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day has been going strong for about 15 years, she still would like to reach more cancer survivors.

“My goal is to be a ‘Star-Green’,” said Paget. “I want to be on every corner like Starbucks and Walgreens. If every single beauty shop, beauty school, barbershop and spa automatically took part on that day, every cancer survivor in the country would have the option to partake in these services.”

The Highland Park resident created Cancer Survivor Day in 2003 to provide a special day of complimentary beauty and spa services to men, women and children cancer survivors regardless of when they were diagnosed. This year the event will be held on June 5.

After Paget had participants from all 50 states in 2009, she went to Washington, D.C.: Resolution 494 states that “the first Tuesday in June is Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day.”

“This is so important because every year there are new cancer survivors and people don’t look at it until it affects them,” said Paget. “Everyone knows someone outside of Illinois who can benefit from Cancer Survivor Day.”

Paget said she’s thrilled to have beauty schools on board, because it’s a wonderful education for the students. One of the beauty schools in Bryan, Texas has more than 100 people who come in on Cancer Survivor Day, and the mother of a beauty school student in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a seamstress who will be donating colorful head wraps to African American cancer survivors.

“I’m appreciative of the people who volunteer on the North Shore, but I am overwhelmed by the people that do it across the country who don’t even know me,” said Paget.

Closer to home, in addition to Highland Park, in Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield and Winnetka will host Cancer Survivor Day events this year. Visit www.cancersurvivorbeautyandsupportday.org for a complete list.

The event is not a charity, and Paget personally speaks to every one of the thousands of participants by phone.

“I’ve been sitting in one position in my pajamas making phone calls for 12 hours a day, and every night I put on my exercise clothes and go on the treadmill for one hour so I don’t get a blood clot,” she said.

But she does get some much needed help from her grandchildren.

Paget’s grandson Jasper Blumberg, a senior at Deerfield High School, designed a Cancer Survivor Day flier, and her granddaughter Stefanie Paget, a freshman at Highland Park High School, helped distribute the fliers.

Paget said her husband of nearly 52 years has been very supportive and calls Cancer Survivor Day “my other life.”

Several cancer-related organizations support the event, including:

• Stand Up To Cancer from the Entertainment Industry Foundation
• The SeriousFun Children’s Network that began with Paul Newman’s “Hole in the Wall Gang Camp”
• Ronald McDonald House Charities
• Clips of Kindness from Great Clips

Paget encourages cancer survivors to schedule appointments before the June 5 Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day.

The Highland Park beauty salons, barbershops, spas and therapeutic massage centers participating in this year’s Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day include ALX Salon; Andrews Coiffure; BloOuts; B Beautiful Salon & Spa; Bluemercury; Blue Orchid Salon & Spa; Cos Bar; Cynde Cosmetics at Blue Orchid Salon & Spa; DS Cosmetics; Femmes; Gordon Salon; Jen Z’s Beauty Service; North Shore Massage & Bodywork; North Suburban Wellness; Nutritional Health Solutions; Ross Cosmetics & Boutique; Salon Vole; Second Nature Massage; Serene Nails; Taylor Reese; The Barbers; The Nail Shop and The Next Salon.

Secca Salon in nearby Highwood will also participate in the event. Click here for participating businesses in other communities.

Paget encourages cancer survivors to schedule appointments before the June 5 Cancer Survivor Beauty and Support Day.

For a list of participating businesses across the North Shore and beyond, visit cancersurvivorbeautyandsupportday.org.