KAILUA-KONA — Tiana Steinberg knows firsthand the hellish pain and cruel indignity cancer thrusts upon its victims.
She understands just as well that cancer patients battle for more than their lives.
They also fight for a return to normalcy.
And so Steinberg, who outlasted a cerebral brain tumor that threatened her life 20 years ago, founded COMMUNITYCares Cancer Resource Center and Wig Closet — the only such center on Hawaii Island. The center is located in the back of her store, Tiana’s Avon &Wigs, in the Kona Old Industrial Area.
The American Cancer Society recently closed its office in Kona, but the information and services it provides can be found at the center along with wigs and other attire. The center also offers domestic abuse outreach.
“I used to volunteer with the American Cancer Society, and I was excited to work with the look good, feel good program,” Steinberg said. “It was difficult for people going through treatment to drive two hours to Hilo to find out if they could get a wig or head covering, so I put up a wall and built the center in the back of my shop.”
In order to keep its efforts alive and well, the COMMUNITYCares Center announced its 10th annual event scheduled for 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Old Kona Airport Events Pavilion. Proceeds will be used to offer wigs and head covers at little or no cost to cancer patients and survivors struggling with treatment-induced hair loss.
Funds raised also will support efforts to aid domestic abuse victims on Hawaii Island, a different sort of hell with which Steinberg also unfortunately is familiar.
Theresa Palmer said what Steinberg and COMMUNITYCares provide is something cancer treatment specialists often overlook, usually to the detriment of their patients who struggle not only with uncertainty about their lives, but also their finances — all amid a crisis of self-confidence because of the physical changes they’re forced to endure.
“I guarantee you there are women at home who don’t know what to do, who don’t know how to afford a $30 or $60 wig because they’re trying to figure out how to pay the next medical bill,” said Palmer, who recently was re-diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time in five years.
“We don’t want the pity party, and that’s what people do to us. We’re fighting for our lives, so we want the normalcy. The wig helps so we don’t have to explain to everybody that we’re going through this but still want to have a normal life.”
The event is free to the public and donations can assume several forms, from monetary gifts to bids on silent auction items to gifts of hair that will be given to Locks of Love.
Steinberg said the primary goal of the event is love, but $5,000 to supplement the center’s annual budget also would go a long way toward providing free attire and increased confidence to cancer patients and survivors throughout the next year.
Carla Watai, a hairdresser and fourth-year volunteer for the event, met Steinberg at a Relay For Life fundraiser several years ago. A member of a family well-known in Kona for its community endeavors, Watai said the COMMUNITYCares event is unique in several ways from other locally based fundraising efforts.
“Tiana always does these really cool themes, so that brings a lot of people,” Watai said. “People come in costumes and there are decorations, so I think that’s a big draw.”
The theme of this year’s event is “Superheroes and Villains Against Cancer,” and attendees are encouraged to come dressed in whatever garb is the most fun and most comfortable for them, be that street clothes or a costume.
Watai will be there, along with other hairdressers, offering cuts and stylings, proceeds from which will go into the donation box. There also will be live entertainment, photo booths, makeup illusions and fantasy face painting booths, henna body art, massages, manicures and food booths.
Raising donations for wigs might sound like a trivial effort to people who don’t understand, but it is actually of crucial importance, Watai said.
“When women lose their hair, that’s a huge deal. A lot of my clients have gone through this,” she explained. “Tiana understands that, and she’s the advocate for that here. We don’t have anyone else. She’s the one. And it’s a big service.”
Palmer agreed, providing just one example of how hair loss can impact a cancer patient, particularly a female one.
“I was talking to my girlfriend (who suffers from ovarian cancer) today. She has two small girls and she’s so afraid of what they’re going to think when she loses her hair,” Palmer said. “It’s the little things like that. The next seven months of her life, she’s going to go through hell, and she’s worried about how her kids will see her.”
COMMUNITYCares is concerned with all of those details, and also will use its platform to showcase other services from around the island. Community outreach booths will provide information about everything from hospice care to domestic abuse services.
“We’re going to have fun and we’re going to make the community aware of what is available to them,” Steinberg said.
COMMUNITYCares is still accepting items for its silent auction and also looking for donations of blankets, pillows, towels and toothbrushes as well as size 4 and size 5 toddler diapers — all of which will go to aid women and children attempting to escape the prison of domestic violence.
Those who want to donate funds or gifts should make checks payable to COMMUNITYCares. The center’s mailing address is 74-5599 Luhia St., D4, Kailua-Kona, HI, 96740.
Email Max Dible at mdible@westhawaiitoday.com.
