Friends, Indeed

By Jill Duff-Hoppes

When Dr. Erica Karlinsky’s daughter Nina was battling leukemia, the young woman could never find a comfortable wig that fit properly. It was an emotional and discouraging experience for both Erica and Nina, who died in 2018 at the age of 19.

When Nina’s hair first began to fall out during her chemotherapy treatments, Erica took it upon herself to search for a good wig for her daughter.

“It was frustrating,” says Erica, owner of Heathrow Psychology in Lake Mary. “The experiences were hopeful at first but ultimately disappointing. I was there with Nina in the hospital, trying to take care of her and researching about wigs – which I knew nothing about before this.”

The family eventually purchased a wig, crafted with Nina’s own locks, but it took more than two months to make and cost $2,800. However, the final product turned out to be uncomfortable, and the hairline looked unnatural. Nina, a graduate of Lake Mary Preparatory School and a student at the University of Florida, never wore the wig without covering much of it with a baseball cap.

Yanet, a patient at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, with wigmaker Katia Baker

Comfort and Confidence

In 2022, Erica launched the For Nina Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization with a goal of fighting childhood diseases and supporting the families impacted by them. Her business partner at Heathrow Psychology, Bob O’Brien, was instrumental in helping Erica start the Foundation in Nina’s memory. The organization’s newest initiative is its Friends of Nina, Wigs for Comfort and Confidence program. The objective is to provide kids, teens, and young adults who have cancer with comfortable, high-quality wigs that fit – at no cost or responsibility to the families. Erica’s intent with this new program is to take the burden of finding a suitable wig off the patient’s parents or caregiver.

“I really wanted a way to take a parent’s hand and say, ‘We’ve got you’ to remove the stress,” says Erica, a licensed clinical psychologist and the For Nina Foundation’s president.

Thanks to Wigs for Comfort and Confidence, several girls and young women have already received natural-looking wigs that were created by Orlando wigmaker Katia Baker.

Katia has her own wig wagon, a mobile salon equipped with an industrial sewing machine and all the supplies she needs to make custom-designed wigs on-site. That means Wigs for Comfort and Confidence can travel to hospitals and pediatric patients’ homes, bringing the salon directly to those who need its services most.

Phoebe (center), the first recipient of a wig through Friends of Nina, Wigs for Comfort and Confidence. The program is an initiative of the nonprofit For Nina Foundation.

“It’s the cutest little salon, and Katia just exudes love and energy and passion,” says Erica. “She’s amazing with the kids.”

“I realize how much of an impact I’m making,” says Katia, who uses a combination of traditional and modern wig-making techniques. “It’s extremely fulfilling, and I can’t wait to see the future for us.”

Metamorphosis

Bob, the For Nina Foundation’s vice president and treasurer, says it’s heartwarming to see the difference in the patients before and after they receive their wigs.

“The transformation in these children is unbelievable,” he says. “They’re revitalized. They say, ‘It feels like my real hair.’ They carry themselves differently after they get that wig.”

The Foundation’s plan for its Wigs for Comfort and Confidence project is to service the entire Orlando area by the end of the year. From there, Bob says, the goal is to go statewide by the summer of 2025 and nationwide in 10 years.

“Unfortunately,” says Erica, “We’re never going to run out of patients.”

To learn more about the Foundation’s wig initiative, visit ForNina.org.

This story was originally published in print in Fall 2024.