On October 27, 2022, cancer patients and their allies came together at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute to learn a centuries-old art: turban tying. Dr. Jaspal Singh, medical director of pulmonary innovation and oncology at Levine Cancer Institute, led Pink Turban-Tying: A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Event. While Singh led the turban-tying demonstration, volunteers helped more than 150 attendees tie their own turbans – and attendees even got to take theirs home.
Turbans have become a popular head covering for people who’ve lost hair during chemotherapy. Cancer patients are joining a long, rich tradition. For more than a millennia, people have worn turbans all over the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The colors, fabrics and methods of tying can be full of meaning – perhaps a statement of faith, marital status or merely fashion.
As a Sikh, Singh wears a turban each day as a public statement of accountability. His faith regards the turban as a universal symbol of someone who offers help to those who need it. Singh also believes in wearing a head covering in the presence of the divine, and because he feels God’s presence everywhere, he wears his turban every day. Each morning, the act of tying his turban is an empowering and spiritual one that gives him time for prayer, reflection and mindfulness. It allows him to start his day with mission and focus.
Turbans worn by cancer patients are usually different than ones worn by Sikhs. Unlike a long piece of fabric that must be carefully wrapped around the head and tied, most cancer patients order prefabricated turbans. Singh wanted to share the art of turban tying – and the empowerment and meaning that comes with it – with patients.
“We want to symbolize the idea that cancer survivors are heroes. They're undergoing adversity, and this will remind them that they are divine, that they are noble and that they have honor,” Singh says. “This brings a sense of humanity to it. This is a multicultural event, a multicultural sharing of what is rich in our lives and in our societies.”
Offering Help to Those Who Need It
If it seems unusual that a pulmonologist created the idea for a breast cancer awareness month event, Dr. Kristin Strawhun isn’t at all surprised. Strawhun, also an Atrium Health pulmonologist, has worked with Singh for 13 years.
“Everything matters to Dr. Singh. He always looks for the next thing he can do to help,” Strawhun says. “It’s just his nature to find another way in which he can contribute.”
Strawhun experienced this firsthand during her own experience as a breast cancer survivor. Strawhun was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer in 2020. During her treatments, Singh would check in on her and send her funny memes to lift her spirits. As Strawhun struggled with what to do with her own hair loss due to chemotherapy, she, too, would wear a turban to Levine Cancer Institute for her doctors’ appointments.
“I’m always interested to see Dr. Singh’s turban and the colors he chooses,” Strawhun says. “Hair is such a key part of his faith representation, and hair is also such a huge part of women’s experiences with cancer. I think a lot of women struggle with identity and belief in themselves when they lose their hair. And this all seems to tie together to me – these concepts of how we choose to represent ourselves to the world, how hair factors into our identity and our representation of ourselves.”
Strawhun’s breast cancer is now in remission. Even though she works in pulmonology, she encounters many patients who are also dealing with cancer, and she feels like she’s in a unique place to offer support. She says it’s important to acknowledge the emotional toll that hair loss can take, as well as the different ways to cope with it.
“We try to open the conversation of, ‘How do you see yourself? How do you want to see yourself?’” she says. “These conversations, as well as events like the turban-tying event, give people options for how they can represent themselves to the world.”
A Source of Honor and Dignity
“Losing one's hair, for many people, can be a deeply personal aspect of cancer, and it can feel like the disease winning or taking something from them,” Singh says. He hopes that the people who come to the turban-tying event and leave with their own turban will see it as one way to cope with hair loss. “We encourage patients to wear their turban because we want people to recognize that it’s a source of honor. It's a source of dignity. It's a source of power in many parts of the world.”
This is about even more than turbans, Strawhun says. She says that this event is one of many that Levine Cancer Institute offers to support patients and their families beyond medical treatments – something she learned as a Levine Cancer Institute patient herself.
“There aren’t enough words to say how great my Levine Cancer Institute team is,” Strawhun says. “My biggest hope for other people going through cancer treatment is that they know there are so many resources here to help them and their families. This turban-tying event is just one teeny tiny piece of a massive puzzle that Levine Cancer Institute brings to cancer treatment. I hope that this be the open door that people can to walk through to discover and take advantage of everything that’s offered to them.”
Learn more about cancer support programs at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute.
