Photo: Marc Vollmannshauser / BILD newspaper
- The invention of Barbara Arthkamp (46) ensures that many cancer patients keep their hair
- The cooling cap protects the hair roots
- The hair gives me back a piece of dignity
The invention of Barbara Arthkamp (46) ensures that many cancer patients keep their hair
Barbara Arthkamp (46) and her cooling hood have already spared many cancer patients the wig. She herself is the best example of the success of the cap ...
The personnel officer from Recklinghausen is herself the best example of the amazing effect of her invention: even after countless chemotherapy her long blond hair is still real!
Fate Breast Cancer: She falls ill at the age of 33 for the first time. She wins the fight against the insidious disease. But five years later, the cancer comes back. 2011 for the third time. Again and again chemo. Always a wig.
"I never gave up, but every woman knows how important your own hair is, and in 2011 I first cooled my head, hoping to keep some, " she says. And it works: she loses only a few hairs with the chemo.
The cooling cap protects the hair roots
When the cancer hits for the fourth time at the beginning of the year, she struggles with the threat of hair loss again: Barbara Arthkamp talks to doctors who recommend a cooling device during the chemos sessions to inhibit the blood circulation. Thereby
less of the chemo-active ingredients get into the hair roots.
"But that was too expensive with about 30 euros per session, " said Barbara. "So, I've been rolling journals and articles with a friend and thinking about a cheaper alternative, which has made the plan for a home- made cooling cap ."
The hair gives me back a piece of dignity
The lid consists of bags from the drugstore sewn to a hood. Then six refrigerated compresses are put into it. It starts shortly before the chemo, during and up to 90 minutes later.
Doctors estimate the success rate of self-made cap to at least 50 percent. "The first one I sewed without a sewing machine, " she says.Now the mother helps a co-patient.The hood costs 16.49 euros (inquiries to: ). "That gives me a great dignity back, " she says proudly, now she has registered her invention as a utility model with the Patent Office and is now looking for distributors.
Text: Ann-Christin Fischer
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