Central Maine Comprehensive Cancer Center

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Profile in Caring - Brenda Weeks

The first thing you notice about Brenda Weeks is her smile.  Genuinely joyful and irresistibly infectious, you find yourself warmed by it, and become immediately at ease in her presence.  Secondly, you notice her constant companion, Savannah, a 9-year old  black labrador retriever, who is specially trained as a service dog for the disabled.  “Disabled”, however, is not a word one thinks of to describe Brenda, who, despite using a wheelchair and being dependent on a ventilator to help her breathe, actively gives of herself everyday: parenting her17-year old son, Eric; helping out with her husband’s business, Shangri-la Kennels; and volunteering several days a week at Central Maine Medical Center.

Today, as is often the case, Brenda is carrying a bag full of colorful and stylish hand-made turbans, which she is planning to donate to the Resource and Wig Room at Central Maine Medical Center’s Outpatient Cancer Treatment Center.  The idea came to her, she says, one day while she was receiving chemotherapy (an emerging treatment for Multiple Sclerosis, which Brenda was diagnosed with in 1993).  “I was sitting there one day, and this elderly lady came in with this kind of scruffy-looking knit hat, with all kinds of pulls and holes in it, and I thought that there should be something available for people that can’t afford to buy them.  I knew that there were catalogues where people can order turbans, but they can be expensive, and it just looked like she didn’t have a lot of resources to be able to do that.” 

Brenda, who has loved to sew since taking home economics in high school, decided to try to find some patterns.  Her first patterns came from the book, Creative Kindness: People and Projects Making a Difference and How You Can, Too (Nancy Zieman & Gail Brown, DBI Books, 2003), which contains a number of inspiring stories and sewing projects that may make a difference in the lives of others.  One such idea is to create and donate hats for people undergoing treatment for cancer, and the book contains several simple patterns, appropriate for a beginning sewer.  From there, Brenda began searching for other patterns, and began experimenting with different materials and styles, ranging from cozy fleece turbans to lightweight baseball caps.  She buys her fabrics at Joanne’s fabric store, trying to find a range of colors and styles that will appeal to the oncology patients cared for at CMMC, whose age-range spans from young adult to elderly.   She also tries to select colors and fabrics that suit each season.  Today, at any given time that one visits the oncology department, its nearly impossible not to see one or two patients who are wearing one of Brenda’s creations.   Margaret*, a 37 year old mother of two who is being treated for breast cancer, sports a purple wrap with a celestial print: “When I first thought about losing my hair, it felt like I was losing a part of my identity….I’ve had long hair ever since I was a teenager!  I got over that pretty quickly, but I still didn’t like the idea of wearing a wig.  The hats and turbans available in the Cancer Center are so pretty that I’ve had friends with hair asking where they can find them.”

Giving of herself is nothing new for Brenda.  She started volunteering at CMMC over ten years ago, initially offering pet therapy.  Once she began using a wheelchair, she decided that it was important to stay active and involved, and started helping out in the physical therapy department, assisting with clerical work.  Several years ago she began volunteering additional hours, serving as a “runner”---bringing flowers to patients and running errands for busy departments.  “It just feels so good to help others, and to see the enjoyment they get from the flowers they receive, or the connection with the therapy dogs, or now, from the hats.” 

Brenda recounts the first day that she saw a patient wearing one of her creations.  “I was sitting in the lobby, and this older lady came in in a wheelchair, with her husband pushing her.  She had just caught my attention out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned to look, she had on one of the hats, it felt so good to see her, and I just thought, ‘Now, this is why I’m doing this!”

Brenda’s genuine delight in making a difference in the lives of others is evident once again as she smiles at the memory.

 *Names of patients have been changed.