Elana’s Blessings: Offering beauty sessions to women battling cancer
Katherine Mansfield
Jessica Seger Hilker, a lifelong Washington resident, and her brother, David Seger, founded Elana鈥檚 Blessings in 2015, as tribute to their mother after losing her to breast cancer in 2015. The nonprofit provides area women battling cancer of any form with beauty sessions to feel as normal as possible during their cancer journey.
Courtesy of Jessica Seger Hinkler
Elana鈥檚 Blessings honors the memory of Elana Seger, who fiercely battled cancer for 16 years before passing in 2014.
Born of the grieving process was Elana鈥檚 Blessings, a Washington-based nonprofit co-founded in 2015 by Jessica Seger Hilker and her brother David Seger, to honor their late mother, Elana, who died in 2014 following a 16-year battle with breast cancer.
During that battle, Elana Seger continued dressing up, doing her hair and makeup when she went out, even to her treatments.
鈥淎fter she passed, I realized that was her way of 鈥� being normal, for lack of better terms. You lose your hair, you lose your eyebrows. Unfortunately some lose their breasts. There鈥檚 nothing normal about it. It was her way of hiding all the effects that were happening to her that she didn鈥檛 want anyone to see,鈥� Seger Hilker said.
Elana鈥檚 Blessings, which serves the Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio, regions, offers beauty sessions to women battling any form of cancer, so they can feel as much themselves as possible while navigating a world of doctor鈥檚 appointments, treatments and uncertainty.
Friends, family and community members may nominate a woman battling cancer on Elana鈥檚 Blessings website, and choose the package appropriate for that woman鈥檚 journey. Nominations are open to women at any stage of cancer, from the newly diagnosed to those who have fought for years and need a pick-me-up.
鈥淓verybody鈥檚 diagnosis is different. We can tailor each package to whatever that person鈥檚 needs are,鈥� said Seger Hilker.
All packages include an Elana鈥檚 Blessings robe and tumbler, a compression bra, notebook and Beauty Counter products. Wig packages come with a gift card to community partner Studio 7, to put toward the purchase of a wig, while mastectomy and spa packages include pillows or spa gift cards.
Elana鈥檚 Blessings fits women for bras and partners with local hospitals and oncology units to provide pre-op mastectomy packages or literature that guides women through their journeys.
鈥淏ig picture: I would love to have a space where women could meet for support groups, and be able to have everything under one umbrella. I wish I could educate them in more ways,鈥� Seger Hilker said.
She鈥檇 also love to partner with local nonprofits who share the common goal of helping individuals navigate a cancer diagnosis.
Next year, Seger Hilker plans to again host an Elana鈥檚 Blessings gala, which has been on a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Until then, Elana鈥檚 Blessings welcomes donations big and small online through PayPal or via check through U.S. Postal mail.
鈥淥ne of the biggest things in our mission is to create a sense of support and community. The strength that these women are enduring in their battle is extremely courageous. To be able to support them with the resources they need, I feel would be very comforting for me if I was in that situation,鈥� Seger Hilker said. 鈥淗elping all these women and giving them the support that they need helps create the commitment we want to give to the community.鈥�
To make a check donation by mail, send to: 64 Paul Drive Washington, PA, 15301. To donate online, or to learn more about Elana鈥檚 Blessings, visit https://www.elanasblessings.org/.