About 30 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients gathered on the ninth floor of Arrowhead Stadium for the fourth annual "Look Good, Feel Better" Clinic in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Tuesday afternoon.
“Look Good Feel Better” is a non-medical, brand-neutral public service program that teaches beauty techniques to cancer patients to help them manage the appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment.
"This is a great partnership that we developed with the Chiefs and the University of Kansas Cancer Center about four years ago," Bridgett Myers, the senior director for the Kansas City metro area, Kansas and Nebraska division of the American Cancer Society, said. "We really wanted to come up with a way that we could recognize breast cancer survivors in the month of October and really give them something special."
The idea is to help raise the spirits of women going through cancer treatments like chemotherapy.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight ends teamed up to host a Look Good Feel Better session for local women in partnership with the University of Kansas Hospital as part of the Chief's support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"It's hard enough going through your diagnosis and your journey, and we just wanted to do something really special for some of our breast cancer survivors in the area," Myers said. "[The program] is about improving quality of life. Women have to go through a lot of changes when they're going through the diagnosis, they're away from their families, it's just such a time that feels like their really alone, and the 'Look Good, Feel Better' program really brings the women together in a support group-style setting to help them understand what's going on with their body, the changes, the loss of their hair, eyebrows, allergies and we couldn't think of a better place to do it than right here in Chiefs Kingdom."
Tight ends James O' Shaughnessy and Ross Travis joined Rita Hunt, a member of the founding family of the Kansas City Chiefs. Hunt spoke in front of the group and shared her personal story of overcoming breast cancer.
"It's been unbelievable to hear their stories, starting with Mrs. Hunt and some of the others," O' Shaughnessy explained. "Just to hear what they had to go through is pretty special, to show that type of strength and the type of fortitude they had to push through such a tough illness and to come out on top. "It's very impressive. It's been a very exciting day for me and Ross Travis to meet these people, get to know them, hear their story and deal with that."
