Omaha cancer patient finds success in hair loss treatment

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - If you pass Kim Garcia on the street, you’d never know she was in the middle of her second fight against breast cancer.

“I mean it has been super scary this time around,” Garcia said. “The what-ifs.”

Both diagnoses coming after a routine mammogram, the first in 2009 caught in stage 0.

Garcia underwent a lumpectomy and radiation but no chemotherapy.

“Outward, no one knew except for the people that I told I had cancer. Nobody could tell visually looking at me what I was going through,” Garcia said.

That wasn’t the case this time, Garcia had a double mastectomy in April and weeks of chemo ahead of her.

“Which can be really scary,” she shared. “It’s as scary as hearing the word cancer.”

Garcia feared her ability to privately fight the disease would be taken from her. That is, until her medical oncologist Dr. Margaret Block told her about The DigniCap.

“The idea of the cooling is so is to constrict the blood vessels so less chemo actually gets to the scalp,” Dr. Block said.

We showed you the cap in November 2020, aside from one other in North Platte, it’s the only one in our region.

There are similar caps out there but this is the only one approved by the FDA and it’s one that Garcia’s team of nurses could help her with.

“Especially during this pandemic when you can’t have friends or family in,” Garcia said. “Knowing there’s always someone here trained in how to put that on gave me that piece of mind that it would be correct.”

Garcia’s chemo treatments wrapped up at the end of July. Her hair loss minimal to none, giving her the chance to share her story on her own terms.

The cancer, not speaking for her.

“I think we all like to be kind of private about it. I don’t think that anyone who has to go through cancer really wants to be out there, looking like they’re the sick person,” she said.

The Nebraska Cancer Specialists recommend talking with your oncologists to see if the treatment would be effective for you.

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