Gail Weiler attended a Look Good Feel Better workshop when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2005.
Ten years later, her daughter, Andrea, took to Twitter to give back to the program that helped her mother during the difficult time for their family.
“Wish me a happy birthday today and I will donate to Look Good Feel Better. 1 wish = $1 to @LGFBCanada,” read the caption of her post, including both a photo of herself on her birthday and her mother, Gail, during her treatment ten years ago.
The tweet quickly amassed responses from Andrea’s followers as well as kind strangers across the social media platform. Birthday wishes flowed in from both women and men touched by her family’s story, gaining momentum as it was shared by leaders in the cosmetic industry.
The next day, Andrea made a donation to Look Good Feel Better for $114 – for 114 birthday wishes.
When LGFB reached out to Andrea to thank her for the thoughtful way she chose to celebrate her birthday, she explained why it was important to her to give back to the program that helped her mother.
“She came home from the workshop so excited - she wasn’t much of a makeup person before. At the time, there were not a lot of things for a cancer patient to do outside of attending chemo and other doctor appointments. A workshop dedicated to making her feel beautiful during this time was such a blessing.”
Andrea’s fundraising effort was inspired by a friend who recently raised money in a similar way for another cancer support charity. She described how seeing her friend’s post was a lightbulb moment.
“It just clicked - I have to do the same but raise money for the only fun thing that my mom got to do when she was sick, Look Good Feel Better.”
Andrea, thank you for reminding us of the seemingly small things we can all do to make a real difference. And of course, happy birthday!
