For this year’s cancer supplement, we’ve featured 14 women whose inspiring stories serve as a reminder about the value of maintaining a positive outlook in spite of obstacles. Enter Heidi Fuller, a cancer survivor herself who provides women who have cancer with love, support — and new hair through her business Awakenings Boutique: Wigs, Healing, Recovery, Gifts. These are the women she has helped through their own “cancer storm,” as Heidi has dubbed the diagnosis and treatment.  

Amanda Blackburn  

Age 38

Diagnosis Stage III colorectal cancer

Treatments 28 radiation treatments, two surgeries, and chemotherapy

Losing her hair “I’ve always had long, dark, thick hair. It feels like you are losing a limb. A lot of people shave their heads, but I didn’t choose to do that. I feel like God is in control so I think shaving my head wouldn’t have made me feel any more empowered than I already felt.”

Support A single mother of two daughters ages 10 and 12, Amanda says they have been instrumental in her healing, and she believes that this experience will give them emotional fortitude. “It has been really important to me from the very start to be honest with them. People want to save the kids from heartache, but I felt that it would be scarier to not be honest than to be honest.”