WALTERS
Barbara Herrala of Walters reported on Friday morning that she’s “doing great” since the successful treatment of her breast cancer last year. The Walters resident, who gets regular check-ups, calculates she’s been a survivor for 18 months … and counting.

Last year at this time, Windsor Weekly reported on Herrala’s experience of using Arctic Cold Caps as a way to prevent hair loss, which often comes from some chemotherapy treatments. Chilled by dry ice, the caps are placed over the user’s head. The intense cold then constricts the blood vessels in the scalp, which in turn protect hair follicles from damage caused by the chemotherapy.

Undergoing the cold caps was motivated not by vanity, but by gaining inner strength to see that she was not being worn down by the disease and medicines.

“It gave me a little bit of power,” she said at the time.

There had been some thinning because of the chemo, but the hair wasn’t falling out in clumps thanks to the cold caps. Herrala figured she kept 80 percent of her hair because of them.

The whole ordeal stopped new growth, but about six months after the chemotherapy was done her new hair came out wavy.

“I have felt wonderful. My strength is back and I can do really anything I want, but I’m careful not to overdo it,” said Herrala.