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Cancer treatment reveals canvas for survivors
written by: Adam Chodak , 9NEWS Northern Reporter  
posted by: Jeremy Moore , Producer  
created: 10/30/2009 4:01:38 PM
Last updated: 10/31/2009 6:09:46 AM
GREELEY - Even at a Halloween party, Kay Anderson would stand out. That's because instead of a full head of hair, she wears a full head of paint.

Her story started a year ago.


"On November 1st, I found a lump in my breast," the Greeley woman remembers.


In January, she had the surgery and started on the drugs.


Preempting the inevitable hair loss, Anderson shaved her head. But she then went one step further.


"Our neener-neener to cancer," Anderson called the move.


Her daughter, Tiffany Koehn, an artist, started to paint murals on Anderson's head.


"I'm expanding my horizons a little bit with this," Koehn said.


Using face paint, Koehn lays down intricate scenes that often include flowers, butterflies and, "always a heart and sometimes multiple hearts ... I just feel there has to be love in there somewhere."


Each painting takes roughly three hours and they change it up every few weeks.


"This is just precious time for us," Anderson said.


"Sometimes I listen to music, but most of the time we just sit here and chat," Koehn said.


While the process is enjoyable, it's the product that gets noticed.


"You can't even walk into a gas station without someone saying something to her," Koehn said.


At North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, where Anderson receives her treatment, colorful Kay has become something of a star.


"It's good to for the other patients to see her," said Micky Holladay, a registered nurse at NCMC.


To Anderson, the looks and questions are welcome.


"You know if people put themselves out like that, they want for you to ask," she said. "I just wish every woman could feel the empowerment that I have felt through doing this."


Aside from the "why" questions, Anderson has also received requests from other cancer patients who wouldn't mind trying on similar look.


That interest has convinced the mother-daughter team to create a business. They're hoping to make temporary tattoos that can cover the whole head.


For information on that, visit the website, www.beautifullybald.com




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