Jesse’s Story

Cancer Support New Zealand is now the home of the Look Good Feel Better

Jesse hadn’t smiled for months. Not only was the cancer treatment killing all the cancerous cells in her body, but it was also taking her hair and causing her teeth to be damaged and removed. She couldn’t face looking in the mirror.

“I could see all the changes I was going through; it was horrible. It made me cry,” the mother of two says. “There are moments on your journey that you just kind of stop, because you feel hōhā [weary], you’ve had enough of feeling yucky.”

So when her cancer nurses recommended attending a free Look Good Feel Better session, where she would be with other wāhine going through cancer treatment, she immediately started to perk up.

“I was so excited. I thought it would make me feel really nice, because you lose that part of your self-care – being able to look good again, feel good again. Everything feels horrible. Everything changes.

“I thought ‘Oh, I would love to feel good again, and I would love to look good’.”

Within minutes of the signature skincare & make-up session starting, the women were chatting and laughing and bonding over all the hand-selected products they were given.

“Having a bit of a laugh and being able to look across and actually see how many Māori wāhine had been going through the journey really helped me feel less alone,” Jesse says.

“I felt really special. I felt like just having the laughter and having the gift – and actually knowing that what was in my bag and how to use it – I felt really special.  Now I understand makeup. It made me feel so light and fancy.

“The chemo is harsh, and it really changes a lot of you. It’s absolutely horrible. Some of us that go through the journey lose balance and may lose the ability or the strength to walk even just a few stairs on their own.”

The Look Good Feel Better session proved so transformational that Jesse not only smiles again, she decided to buy a mirror and maintain her skincare routine.

“I really liked having the mirror in front of me. Being able to look at yourself was really important – because you try not to look at yourself when you go through it, well I tried not to.

“It reminds you that you’re important, and how you feel about yourself is really important,” she says. “It made you feel like the wairua [soul] is starting to land softly now.”