Hairdresser helps Atlanta teenager regain confidence after cancer diagnosis

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — For many cancer survivors, feeling like themselves before their diagnosis, is a major part of the their recovery.

“It’s a kind of cancer down by your medulla which is your center of balance. I was having headaches and we thought they were migraines. So my mother took me to the ER and we found that there was a mass on my brain,” said Madison Winn.

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At 15 years old, doctors diagnosed Madison Winn with brain cancer.

After rounds of treatment, Winn beat the cancer, but the intense radiation and chemotherapy made it so, Winn’s hair would never regrow.

That’s when Sandy Springs Hairstylist, Rebecca Walden stepped in.

Walden specializes in prosthetic wigs for people with all kinds of hair loss, whether it be from cancer or alopecia.

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“Basically a blank canvass of hair that we customize for each client to look like what they looked like before their hair loss,” Rebecca Walden said.

Walden told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington that the key is making the wigs look and feel as natural as possible.

“But to be able to put your hair on and look in the mirror as you were and you’re able to fly under the radar and you’re not defined by what you are going through,” Walden explained.

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As for Winn, she is now cancer-free and she credits her new found confidence to her hairstylist, Rebecca Walden.

“She’s my fairy godmother and I’m so lucky that I have her,” said Winn.

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