Sending Love With A Scarf
The charity knitters of aHuG
Carol Doyle experienced a rough start to 2019, when a hysterectomy revealed she had endometrial and ovarian cancer.
“I started thirteen weeks of chemotherapy last February,” explains Carol. “After a while, the treatment really began to floor me and I had to deal with losing my eyebrows, eyelashes and hair along with other side effects, like numbness in my fingers.
“One of my close friends brought me a beautiful gift box of knitting needles, yarns and a pattern book. She enjoyed knitting, and had been through breast cancer so she must have known about the neuropathy and the benefits of an activity such as knitting during chemotherapy. When she said, ‘Get started on that and I’ll be back in two weeks to see what you’ve done’, I thought I’d better rise to the challenge!
“I hadn’t knitted for about 25 years but I found that it now suited me well. It was hard to focus during my chemotherapy, but knitting was something I could pick up and put down whenever I wanted to. I knitted a scarf for myself and found it really comforting to wear during my treatment. I decided to knit scarves for my two daughters at university, as I thought they would be like a muma hug, like me wrapping my arms around them when I wasn’t there, and they loved them
– one of them wore hers as a comfort during exam stress. I also knitted some colourful scarves for myself – with no hair and dark circles under my eyes, they were a good way to brighten up my appearance and lift my mood.
“And that was where the idea of the aHuG charity came from – to send out free scarves to people undergoing cancer treatment, knitted by volunteers. The scarf is a comforter and is also like having a hug. It is a lovely thing to give to somebody who you can’t physically be with. When I moved on to radiotherapy treatment, I ran the idea past staff and other patients and they all agreed with it enthusiastically. I developed d a website, and with w the help of my daughter, I planned out how everything wwould work.
“We launched aHuG late laast summer. Volunteer kknitters came forward in ggreat numbers, each with their own story and reasons foor being involved. There are mmany different ways to raise fund for charities, but I ccouldn’t run a marathon, for eexample. Knitting opens up a whole new opportunity for ppeople who want to help. It oonly takes a couple of days to kknit one of these scarves and it is something that can be done around other activities. Our volunteers tell me that while knitting, they watch TV, read books, pray, all sorts of things. Many people think about the person who might receive their scarf.
“Before dispatch, each scarf is laundered and branded as aHuG before it is individually wrapped. We include some literature which talks about facing – not fighting – cancer and needing a hug, and includes the first name of the volunteer knitter. The recipient can send in a message of thanks to us, which we pass back to the volunteer and we have received lots of amazing feedback. We have an aHuG supporters’ group on Facebook and we were delighted to see that we now have former patients on there, who have started knitting themselves.
“Our hugs are free and gifted to the patients. If anyone wants to make a donation they can, but there is no obligation to do so. It costs the charity £2 to process each hug, and now that our reach has extended, we have to cover postage costs to hospitals, too. To offset this, we have set up a shop online which offers items such as our hug
From small beginnings, the expanding charity now has over 900 volunteers
knitting kits and our stylish WOW hair band, for use with or without hair – worn on their own or to keep a wig in place and make it look less ‘wiggy’, something which made me very self-conscious.
“aHuG is a truly positive result from what started as a dreadful 2019 for me.
Only a few months into our operation we now have over 900 volunteer knitters, plus other volunteers who help out in different ways. We expect to hit the 1,000-scarf mark by March – we processed a whopping 500 scarves for people receiving treatment in January, alone! We are now extending our reach beyond hospitals and treatment centres which were our starting point. We are recruiting for some aHuG Ambassadors to coordinate activities in their local area and to help spread the reach of our hugs even further. I am thrilled that we have reached so many people as they face their treatment. Setting up and running aHuG has also helped me to rebuild my focus and to use my brain power again. This Muma Bear is now looking forward to a healthy future and a renewed sense of purpose. Isn’t it amazing what aHuG can do?”