Judy Kenne has been teaching women how to put makeup on and face the day for the past five years.
As a cosmetologist, Kenne volunteers with Look Good, Feel Better, an American Cancer Society program addressing appearance-related side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
“I teach the class simply because of the fact that I know what these ladies are going through,” Keene said. “They develop attitude because they know they have to get up each morning no matter how sick they feel. They know their skin and everything about them is going to change.”
Kenne, 67, became licensed for the program in 1997 when a friend was diagnosed with bone cancer. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2000, underwent treatments and began teaching in 2006.
The program provides the women with a free makeup kit, which contains disposable tools for the women to use when applying makeup, and shows the women how to maintain wigs and tie scarves and turbans if they have experienced hair loss.
“Many women care a lot about their hair, and when it falls out they become vulnerable,” Kenne said.
Margaret Shaw, the society’s patient services representative for the area, said the women need to use disposable tools to prevent skin infection associated with cancer treatments.
The Look Good, Feel Better program meets once a month at three different sites in Gainesville: the Davis Cancer Center at Shands Medical Plaza, the North Florida Regional Medical Center and the American Cancer Society Winn-Dixie Hope Lodge.
The next session will be at the Davis Cancer Center at Shands Medical Plaza in Room 4160 today from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
