Sep 23, 2019 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read

While chemotherapy and other treatments are helping more and more people survive cancer, they still are prone to temporary hair loss.

In the grand scheme, that may seem like somewhat of a secondary consideration.

“But let me tell you: When you are a mother and you have to go to your son’s baseball game, and you don’t have a wig on and you look different, these 9-year-olds are going to say, ‘What’s wrong with your mom?’ Or, ‘Look at Bobby’s mom,'” Bonny Diver said. “That is the reality.”

The Pittsburgh radio personality and executive director of Hair Peace Charities served as guest speaker for a recent McMurray Rotary Club meeting in Peters Township, and she related something that a woman with cancer told her:

“Don’t come to my baseball game unless you have something on your head.”

Hair Peace Charities, the nonprofit Diver founded in 2005, helps remedy such situations by providing $200 toward wigs for Western Pennsylvania women who have been diagnosed with all types of cancer.

“It’s an expense that’s difficult at a time when cancer is very expensive, with co-pays and time off work and deductibles and all the other things that go along with it,” Diver explained. “And you feel like you’re splurging on yourself, and you just don’t know if you want to do that.”

When women learn that they are to receive a treatment that is likely to cause hair loss, they can call Diver at 412-327-5177 and leave a message. When she returns calls, she often talks with the cancer patient at length, providing support and guidance based on her own experience.

As a horse owner, Diver has a saying: “It’s not if, but when, you fall off. If you haven’t fallen off yet, you haven’t had the horse long enough.”

In 2003, she took a spill that broke her shoulder. While she was checking herself for other injuries, she noticed a lump in a place that particularly alarmed her.

“I had mammograms every year since I was 40, faithfully,” Diver recalled. “And I thought, how can this possibly be cancer, because I had a mammogram seven months ago.”

But testing revealed breast cancer, and she underwent treatment. She talked on the radio about what she went through, offering advice for women.

“You’ve got to do a self-exam, as well as a mammogram, for breast cancer because you need to do as much as you can for early detection. That’s how you get through this.”

And she advised the same for men with regard to testicular cancer.

As Diver spread the word, her doctors asked if she would help with efforts to provide women with wigs, which are not paid for by most insurance companies in Pennsylvania.

With the assistance of members of her church, she subsequently launched Hair Peace Charities. The organization sends money directly to salons, many of which specialize in wigs, as selected by the recipients.

Hair Peace helped more than 400 women in 2018 and is on pace to at least match the total this year, according to Diver. The organization also provides support groups, including Hair Peace Women’s Circle South, which meets at 6 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park.

“I have speakers come in, and they teach us things that we can learn to fight cancer and be healthier,” Diver said. “It’s always encouraging and positive.”

To help the Hair Peace cause, the McMurray Rotary Club presented Diver with a $1,500 check during her visit.

Also providing a Washington County boost, the local version of the Tanger Fit 5K Run/Walk is scheduled for Oct. 13 at Tanger Outlets in South Strabane Township. The event raised $32,000 for Hair Peace last year. For more information, visit www.tangeroutlet.com/race.

And to learn more about Hair Peace Charities, visit www.hairpeace.org.