Business wasn’t Catherine Easdown’s sole purpose in opening a boutique and spa for women with cancer.

Through her mother and other family members, she has seen the anguish felt by many after they’re diagnosed with the disease. She has also seen the side effects of treatment, and the distress these conditions cause.

“I experienced what it was like when they were going through their journeys,” Easdown told the Georgia Straight.

Hair loss during chemotherapy is crushing for many women. Having one or both breasts removed through surgery can be devastating. With Compassionate Beauty, which Easdown said is the first of its kind in Vancouver, the former nurse wants to make women feel better.

Located at 1683 Chestnut Street, her shop provides a measure of privacy when shopping for products like hats, wigs, and lingerie, as well as services such as massages, facials, and nail-polishing.

“Some women don’t feel comfortable going to the regular spa or hair salon while they’re going through treatment,” Easdown said.

Head shaves are offered at this franchise of the original Compassionate Beauty in Calgary. It was this service that inspired company owner Saundra Shapiro to establish a boutique and spa for women living with cancer.

Shapiro relates on her Alberta firm’s website that when she was operating a family salon, a client declared that her ovarian cancer had recurred. “That Sunday, we closed the store, dimmed the lights, put soft music on, and I lovingly shaved her head,” she recalls. “As I was doing so, I wondered what her choices were. Where else could she have gone?”

Pampering for women with breast cancer is a major component of services offered at Easdown’s shop. According to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, this cancer is the most common one among Canadian women. The organization estimates that 28,800 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013; five thousand will die from the disease this year.

The society also projects that one in nine Canadian women may develop breast cancer, and one in 29 of them will not survive.

Easdown learned about Compassionate Beauty from a cousin in Calgary who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her relative went to the store there and told Easdown that she had had a wonderful experience. “So I saw the opportunity here and said this is what I wanted to do,” Easdown said.

In a fitting room, she shows a breast form made of silicone. The material is inserted in bras to give women a full figure after one or both of their breasts have been removed. “They come in all different sizes and shapes,” she said about the prostheses.

Then she went to a room where her staff had taken a delivery of yoga­wear designed to fit breast forms. A bra made of lace was one of the many items in the store’s main display space.

Easdown agreed with a suggestion that her establishment, which will have its grand-opening reception early Thursday (October 24) evening, can help a woman regain her confidence.