The women volunteer for the Look Good Feel Better program, which is run by the Cancer Patients Foundation, and have helped hundreds of Goulburn Valley women battling cancer gain back their confidence.
Marcia Greig, who herself was diagnosed with cancer 22 years ago, started the program in Shepparton 20 years ago and since then has run dozens of workshops to help empower women with cancer.
“With coronavirus and with our whole lives going into shutdown, cancer doesn’t go into shutdown and so you’ve got ladies that are miles away that have been diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
“If you stay positive, if you look in that mirror and you like the person you’re looking at you don’t feel sorry for her instead your whole spirits lift up and therefore your treatments get better because you’re more positive about things.
“That's how this program first started with helping a lady stay positive, put her coat of armour on and face the world.”
The Shepparton program works alongside the hospital's oncology department to run workshops with women battling cancer.
The women each receive a Confidence Kit full of skincare and makeup products donated by the cosmetic industry.
The volunteers then cover skincare techniques, makeup tips as well as advice on wearing headwear and wig selection to ensure the women are feeling their most confident during some of their darkest days.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic the workshops have been put on hold, however the Confidence Kits are still being delivered to the homes of local cancer patients along with all the contacts they need to ensure they are not alone.
“It's not always about the makeup, it's also about the things that come with this - the communication and the support from other patients,” Mrs Greig said.
“You come away from the program feeling like I've done something, I never come away depressed, I never feel like oh those poor ladies because the sickest lady in that group is normally the loudest and brightest.”
Mrs Greig, alongside volunteers Pat Ferguson and Mary Carroll, are all homeowners at Shepparton's Lifestyle Communities.
The women volunteer for the Shepparton program while also running a number of events in the community to raise money to ensure the program, which relies entirely on donations, can continue.
This year the Lifestyle Communities Foundation donated $4290 towards the program to ensure its continued success.
Mrs Greig said the Foundation was established in 2015 following the death of one of the founding directors from pancreatic cancer at the age of 46.
Each year the Foundation collects $50 from every home that is lived in across the Lifestyle Community, Australia-wide, which they then donate towards different cancer-based charities.
The women said the Foundation also matched any cancer fundraising efforts of any of the homeowners in their community, which they agreed was a huge help in keeping the Look Good Feel Better program running in Shepparton.
“The program is a Cancer Foundation branch but it doesn’t get the network of support - that's why this cheque is so important,” Mrs Greig said.
