If you’ve ever visited our centre in Toronto, you’ve likely seen the beautiful knitted and crocheted hats at the front desk.
Many of these hats were donated by the Get Well Gang, a group of volunteers who have been knitting and crocheting hats since around 2004. Their mission is to “warm the hearts and heads of cancer patients.” Nearly 40,000 hats later, the Gang have finally decided to call it a day. But their impact on countless lives, including many of our Wellspring members, is immeasurable.
Gretchen Huntley of Gananoque started the Get Well Gang after a close friend lost her hair due to an aggressive cancer. Her friend struggled to find something comfortable, functional, and good-looking to cover her head, often resorting to a piece of cloth. She would pull it over her head when in the company of others, to which Gretchen would kindly encourage her that she didn’t care what her friend looked like now that her hair had gone. Her friend replied, “You don’t, but I do.” These words stuck with Gretchen for years.
This memory of her friend clung to Gretchen, and she knew that, in some way, she wanted to help. It wasn’t until her daughter jokingly placed a half-completed crocheted tea cozy on her head that the idea took shape. “Look, mum, it’s a hat!” A light switched on in Gretchen’s head, and the plan was cemented. She would knit and crochet hats for cancer patients.
So, she started crocheting and crocheting and crocheting. What started as a one-woman show eventually grew bigger, with a group of volunteers dedicating hundreds of hours of their spare time to making these hats. Their client base soared, with hats travelling to cancer patients across Canada and even reaching the United States. The hats were always accompanied by a beautifully written poem by Gretchen, who is Gananoque’s first Poet Laureate. It would read, “We’ve created this cap just for you…We hope it will make you smile…We also send our best wishes too…May you be well in a very short while.”
Gretchen’s son, John, was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and for twenty years, she watched his daily struggles with the illness. It inspired her to write children’s books to help kids better understand cancer and death; Mama Grog Gets Sick and The Magic Mirror. She donates these books free of charge to hospitals and cancer organizations across Canada. But the joy she brought to many lives through the Get Well Gang has impacted Gretchen the most. “It has been the most rewarding experience in my life,” says Gretchen.
Thanks to Gretchen and her Get Well Gang, thousands of people who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments have been gifted a hat made with love and compassion. We want to thank the Get Well Gang for the lives they have touched at Wellspring and beyond.
