In celebration of Look Good Feel Better’s 25th year in Canada, we’ve named 25 Heritage Heroes who have helped the charity make it to 25 inspiring years of helping women and teens with cancer feel like themselves again, or currently play an important role and provide a powerful voice to keep the program alive for years to come.
Each of our 25 Heritage Heroes – one for each year of our program – exemplifies the very essence of Look Good Feel Better’s mission to empower and support women with cancer.
Twenty-year-old cancer survivor Adriana Lombardo has been an ambassador for Look Good Feel Better since early 2017.
She shares her inspiring story at events and writes a blog called Life After Leukemia for the LGFB online community Facing Cancer Together.
Adriana’s voice plays an important role in the future of Look Good Feel Better, which is why she’s been named a Heritage Hero in celebration of the charity’s 25th year in Canada.
For Adriana, Look Good Feel Better “hits close to home” having experienced the workshop’s positive impact firsthand during her two-year battle with leukemia.
Diagnosed at only 17-years-old, she attended the session at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre shortly after her December 2014 diagnosis.
“I instantly felt welcome from the moment I walked in the room,” Adriana said. “The energy was not only coming from the volunteers, but the patients, too. A room filled with strength, courage, and hope, where we could forget we had cancer for that moment and just be women - women going through an unimaginable experience.”
As Adriana progressed through her treatment, she lost her hair, eyebrows and gained 60 pounds from steroids.
She lost sight of who she was.
“Look Good Feel Better gave me the tools, the confidence, the support that I needed,” she said. “It allowed me to be me and feel good about myself even if I didn’t look or feel like myself.”
“And it’s not just the makeup – it’s how you feel after leaving the workshop, the support, the love, the connections that you make.”
In remission since January, it’s important for Adriana to give back.
“Out of any of the causes or anything I participated in during treatment, this is one of the things that I deeply care about,” she said. “I want to make a difference and help the charity, so more young women know that this program is there for them.”
