Remembering Charlie with a 'hug for the head'

PARKER - No one is ever prepared to hear they have been diagnosed with cancer, and it is not any easier for a family member.

When Janet Smith learned her father, Charlie, had cancer, she wanted to escape. The escape came in the form of a hobby - making hats.

"The reason I started making the hats is because I was thinking too much," Smith said. "Making the hats allowed me to shut my brain off and not think."

Smith made the first few stitches of her first hat after her father's cancer diagnosis. Even before cancer, he was always trying to keep his head warm because of his bald spot.

For Smith, that first hat for her dad was the only way she knew how to love him during a time when her faith was tested.

"The most wonderful thing about the hat was it kept him warm," Smith said. "Number two, it was like a security blanket for him. And when it slipped off, it was one of the last kind and loving gestures people could do for him to adjust and fix it for him. Really, it was a way of saying, 'I care about you and love you.' It was very special."

Shortly after Smith's father passed away, she continued her hat hobby by creating a mound of hats. The problem was she did not know what to do with them all.

That is when Smith decided she would give the hats away to patients and their family members in hospitals, providing a type of comfort she wished she had been given during the last stages of her father's life.

Thousands of hats later, Smith has founded "Charlie's Caps," an effort connecting her hat making habit to Coloradans who need a bit of comfort. For her efforts, she's been honored as the October winner of the 9Who Care award.

"Each hat is almost a journey, or each hat has a destiny when it finds where it's supposed to go," Smith said. "It's amazing to me. I never expected it in a million years. It's really special because it has allowed me to find someway to celebrate my dad because he deserves to be celebrated."

To learn more about Smith's effort, or if you would like more information about how Smith can provide your family with a "Charlie's Cap," please visit Charlie's Caps Web site: http://www.charliescaps.com/