Taking Battle to Cancer, One Wig at a Time Woman Helps Fill a Void for Many
By GARRET MATHEWS Courier & Press staff writer 464-7527 or mathewsg@courierpress.com
OAKLAND CITY, Ind. – Bobbie Buck goes in the hospital today for double mastectomy surgery. It’s part of an ongoing battle against cancer that began in 2003 when she had part of a lung removed.
The 57-year-old Gibson County woman is upbeat.
“It’ll be OK. Hey, they’re letting me bring my own tea.”
In 2000, her husband, Chester, was diagnosed with colon cancer. He died last year.
“After years of surgeries and chemo both with him and me, I got to know other cancer patients who couldn’t afford wigs and head coverings” for their medical-related hair loss, she said. “So I got involved.”
She started knitting caps and leaving them at hospitals and oncology centers.
“Real informal. If you need one, pick one up. I would never charge. There are too many people who can’t afford to pay.”
Buck soon realized there’s a greater need than her nimble fingers could meet. She put out the word that folks with spare wigs and turbans can donate them either to her or the Eagles Lodge in Oakland City.
“Everything gets sent to the American Cancer Society. Something like 40 wigs, 60 hats and 50 scarves have come in so far.”
She vows to continue the push after recovering from her operation.
“I’ve got way more to accomplish before I leave this world. I’ll just need a little time to get my strength back and get right back to work.”
There’s not much money. Buck lives in a small house near the railroad tracks that has a leaking roof. She’s unable to work outside the home because of her cancer, heart problems and arthritis.
“The feeling you get when you help somebody means more than if you had all the dollars in the world.”
She pastors what she calls the Nature Church.
“It’s a loosely based organization of whoever wants to show up. We don’t have a building. We’ll get together at a park or a beach or
somebody’s house. It doesn’t matter.
“There’s no sermon. No formal prayers. We believe that if we preserve the Earth, everything else will take care of itself.”
Buck quit smoking on Aug. 21, 2003.
“That was the day they said I had lung cancer. You talk about a really rough bout. It went into pneumonia, and I almost died twice.”
In August, she thought the doctor would extend congratulations for living five years without cancer.
“But he said it was in my breasts, and I’d have to go in the hospital. Yeah, I was mad at first. It’s like, when is enough, enough? But I’m better now.”
She plans to sell her used van to pay for hospital expenses.
“You just deal with things and move on. Life is good. I truly believe that.”
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