Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96437
As a young person, I had a lot of drive. My dream was to be a celebrity makeup artist. And, for 15 years I had the good fortune to work on television and in print alongside the most talented photographers, directors, models and actors in the world. My interest and motivation began to shift, however, when I started volunteering at a cancer support center. I became involved because my life had been touched in significant ways by this disease. When I was a teenager, I had watched my best friend lose her battle against leukemia. Later, I joined my husband, a 40-year cancer survivor, in his commitment to supporting cancer research. As I worked at the support center, I learned that along with all the medical issues, patients struggle with the fear that their appearance will change. For some, the side effects from treatment are devastating – complete hair loss (yes, eyebrows and eyelashes, too), skin tone changes, etc. The discomfort a patient may feel with these changes also can be devastating. Many patients have told me they are afraid to go to school, work, even the grocery store, afraid that people will stare or pity them. I had one patient who told me that she covered all the mirrors in her home because she couldn't stand to see her own reflection. Though these aesthetic effects usually are temporary, they can be very traumatic. I knew that I could help cancer patients feel like themselves again. By developing special makeup techniques, I could help them address many of the issues that they were dealing with. Yes, you can use makeup to create eyebrows that look like real hair. You can perk up tired eyes, camouflage scars and put color into the face without gobs of makeup. For the last 10 years I have given private makeup lessons to patients of all ages at the University of Chicago Cancer Center using these techniques. I also do a weekly program at Comer Children's Hospital cancer floor, helping to put smiles on the faces of sick kids. In 2004, my husband, Bruce, and I self-published Facing the Mirror with Cancer, A Guide to Using Makeup to Make a Difference with the hope of reaching as many people as possible with the disease. All profits from the book go to cancer research. Teaching cancer patients has forever changed the way I think about makeup and my career. Watching the patients' attitudes and outlooks become more positive, as they begin to see the person they are used to seeing, has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The happy transformation of the teenager who would not go to school because she had no eye brows, eyelashes and was bald; the patient whose coworkers didn't even realize that she had gone through cancer treatment – these are my success stories. "I knew I could help cancer patients feel like themselves again." Lori working her magic; a before and after of one of her patients. Latin School of Chicago 41