In August 2001, the day before my 47th Birthday I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

That sort of news is quite devastating especially when you have a young family, my son was nine years old, but on top of that I was informed that the treatment that I was to have would cause the loss of my long blond hair.

I had a career as an Operations Manager in Birmingham and wanted to work through the chemotherapy and try to keep my life as normal as possible. I was frantic, how could I do this if I was bald?!

Options
The options that I had were choosing through a brochure, going to fancy dress hire or hairdressers where everyone else was having normal hair styles and I was in the embarrassing position of trying on wigs.

My husband tried to help and found a private establishment on the internet. I imagined a quiet private studio, with a cup of tea, or perhaps, a glass of wine. How wrong could I be?

The waiting room seats had the stuffing coming out of them and I sat with men waiting to have their hair cut. We ran off! When we got into the car, my husband just looked at me and apologised. He thought I was going to cry.

Determined
The way I felt that day inspired me to do something to help others who would go through the same experience.

Eight months later, after I had refurbished my studio (an annexe room on my house) and bought in my initial stock my first Wig-Wham! studio opened in Little Haywood.

I placed an ad in the local paper and waited for my first client.

It took six weeks but there was never a point where I thought I would fail. I just knew it would work.

The lady that came had thinning hair and I will never forget the feeling I had when she left my studio with her new hair.

She couldn't thank me enough as she had also been going through the horrendous experiences I had in trying to find a wig.

To this day, although she is now a regular client, she still does not know that she was my first.

Juggling Tasks
It was real hard work for the first 18 months fitting the studio around my full-time career was hard work, as I didn't get home from work in Birmingham until around 7pm and usually had an appointment at 7.30pm.

I also tried to accommodate other people who were working by opening on Saturday and Sundays.

I will never forget a lady who called me just over a year ago. She had lost all of her hair following the birth of her first child fifteen years ago and was now in her late thirties.

She told me that she had been undergoing all sorts of tests and treatments, and had been told two days before by her doctor that there was nothing more they could do.

She asked me if I believed in fate as following this news she had felt suicidal but had picked up a magazine where she saw an article about me and my baldness. She came to see me the following week.

Relaxed
She was a beautiful lady but with no confidence at all. We talked for about an hour over a glass of wine about what had happened to her and then had a bit of a giggle trying on all the different wigs.

Eventually she found a red wig that made her gasp as she saw it in the mirror. I always tell my clients to look for a style that makes them think, "WOW" is that really me?"

She was so surprised at her new look, and it was fantastic to see her looking so

This is an extract from a letter she sent me the following week.

"After I left your studio I went for lunch with two friends. I have not felt so happy and confident in years. I saw my doctor last week and she commented straight away on the change in me. I can now face the future as a normal person and not have to spend my whole life hiding away indoors."

Transformed
Another customer that sticks in my mind is a lady whose husband phoned to make the appointment for her as she was quite ill following surgery and had already started her chemotherapy.

When they arrived, he had to help her walk the short distance from the car to my studio. She told me that she felt so ill, hated the way she looked (she had already started to lose her hair) and did not want to go on.

Her husband looked on, close to tears. I knew that she wasn't feeling well enough to try on lots of wigs so I had to choose something that would hit the mark pretty much straight away.

As she was very tall, sophisticated and well dressed, I chose a short, chic but modern blond one.

Sparkle
As we put it on and she looked in the mirror, I will never forget the spark that came to her eyes when she saw how wonderful she looked.

Within moments, she became chatty and animated and told me all about her life and treatment.

Her spirits had visibly lifted. Her husband was thrilled and told me that he had also watched the transformation right before his very eyes. She then left and walked to the car unaided.

Impact
This story just proves that no-one realises the extent of the impact that it has on a woman to lose her hair.

Wig-Wham! is not just about fitting wigs, it is about understanding the total devastation someone feels when they lose their hair, and offering a solution to help them face the world again.