From grim to grins: Patient spreads cheer with hats

When Larry Swedlund comes to the hospital, he does it with hat in hand —literally. More accurately, he arrives with dozens of hats. And it’s not just hospitals, but gas stations, restaurants, anywhere he might be able to offer cheer to those around him.

It’s not typical to walk around with a duffel bag filled with colorful fleece caps, but then again, Larry is no typical cancer patient.

The Newton native was diagnosed with prostate cancer in fall of 2013. He first tried hormone therapy, but when that wasn’t providing the desired results, he was referred to a Mayo Clinic physician with a reputation for a high success rate. Larry’s treatment plans include a drive to Minnesota every three weeks for chemotherapy. Before the chemo started this past January, his doctor gave him a warning.

“At that time, I had a ponytail halfway down my back,” Larry said. “My doctor said, ‘You’re probably gonna lose that.’”

Indeed, he did — but he opted to be the one to call the shots. “When I ran a comb through it and a handful came out, I decided to have some fun. We hosted a Saturday event, we invited our kids and grandkids, and I had my head shaved.”

Baldness brought with it a surprising revelation. “I tell you what, then your head is cold!”

To offset the chilliness, Swedlund’s wife Sue made him a fleece hat using a pattern from the Internet. He liked it so much, he had her make more — and then inspiration struck.

“I started buying more fleece, and she kept on sewing,” he said. “We made more and more hats, and I started giving them to anyone who was good to me. This included nurses and other health-care people who took care of me, of course, but also anyone else who was nice, like waitresses and gas station attendants.”

“Everyone at my work has a hat,” Sue said. “Everyone at his work has a hat.”

There are “rules” to this project that he has dubbed Larry’s Cancer Adventure: He offers the hat to someone who has shown him kindness and, if they accept, he takes note of their first name and has them pose with him for a photo. They’re collecting the photos, with the hope of one day consolidating and publicizing them.

Larry and Sue have set up a hat station in their basement, with a table for him to cut the fabric and another for her to do the sewing. They can make five to six hats in an hour. To date, they have distributed about 400 hats and gotten photos with most of the recipients.

Some of the most recent people wearing Larry’s hats include staff members in the Outpatient Surgery department at Skiff Medical Center. Due to the dehydrating nature of chemotherapy, Larry has had to spend some time at the hospital getting fluids.

“They treat me well here,” he said. “When you come in and someone smiles at you, as simple as that is, it feels good.”

Larry is only scheduled for one more session of chemotherapy, and then his doctor will determine what happens next. The cancer, initially in his prostate, has shown a certain amount of aggression, appearing in his liver, colon and bones

“I’m one of those guys who’s pretty much all or nothing,” he joked.

He is optimistic with his overall prognosis. And in the meantime, he’s going to keep handing out hats.

“I’m going to keep putting hats on people’s heads,” he said, “as long as it keeps putting smiles on their faces.”