Crazy Makeovers Give Cancer Patients Chance to Laugh

When you have cancer it can be nearly impossible to think about anything beyond the overwhelming burden of grappling with such a devastating illness.

So, the Mimi Ullens Foundation knew they would have to get creative in their efforts to give survivors a brief reprieve from their daily struggles.

What they came up with was a campaign entitled, “If Only For A Second.”

The concept is simple but the dramatic result has become an amazing viral hit. 20 cancer patients were brought into a photography studio. They were told they would be receiving makeovers.

On its face, that sounds like a nice (albeit not that exciting) idea.

But the patients were asked to keep their eyes closed during the entire makeover process. What they didn’t realize was that the makeup designers were giving them exceptionally creative, extreme new appearances.

Hidden behind a one-way mirror, a photographer captured the exact moment that each person opened their eyes and saw their new looks.

As a woman identified “Katy A.” says in the video’s opening, “You know what I miss the most? Being carefree.” The goal was to give her and the other participants even just a second in which they were so distracted by their new look that they forgot about the cancer, or, as the Mimi Foundation puts it, to “immortalize a second of carefreeness.”

The photographs were then printed, framed and displayed in a gallery showing. The entire collection was also released in a new 60-page book, “If Only For a Second,” by Vincent Dixon.

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