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Drag queen donates wigs to cancer patients
An Orlando comedian and iconic drag queen is using his beauty store to give wigs to cancer patients battling hair loss. Ritzy Rags Wigs and More owner Leigh Shannon wanted to help spread joy to people during what can be a dark time.
ORLANDO, Fla. - An Orlando comedian and iconic drag queen is using his beauty store to give wigs to cancer patients battling hair loss.
Ritzy Rags Wigs and More owner Leigh Shannon wanted to help spread joy to people during what can be a dark time.
For the last 10 years, he has given away wigs to cancer patients during the month of October. For him, it's personal. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 24 years old.
"We went to the wig stores and there was nothing but those frosted tip wigs, she was never happy. Now, I feel like every time I get a wig to someone, and they look great, my Mom's watching," Shannon said.
Monika Koleva was one of the ladies who won a wig this month. She was diagnosed with breast cancer back in May. She's just 31 years old. She said one day she felt a lump, two weeks later she had a mastectomy, then two weeks after that she had a port put in, and now she's four rounds of chemo in.
"Women around me and stuff, everyone was like it's a cyst, it's a cyst there's no way, you're so young, no way it's breast cancer," Koleva said. "I'm learnin' that it is definitely being diagnosed younger and younger, lots of 30-year-olds."
For Monika, getting a new wig allowed her to feel like herself.
Leigh Shannon gave away about 15 wigs in October, so far he's given away about nine. To him, it's connecting with each patient that brings him joy.
"My goal is to make sure that while they're fighting this, they look good in the mirror."
For more information on how to win a wig, click here.