They are warrior women. Joan Flandja. Noelle Smith. Sandra Epping.

The three are among many battling cancer who are making their plight public to help others. There are foot soldiers, too -- those who haven't got cancer, but are joining the cause. Two Ancaster spas are opening their doors to support women with the disease.

Here are their stories.

Joan Flandja is 61, lives in Ancaster, and has been fighting cancer for five years. The former cosmetician has been through the wars. First she had surgery for colon cancer that had spread to some of her lymph nodes. Six months of chemo was followed by a complete hysterectomy due to a noncancerous problem. Two months later, she had her spleen removed because the cancer had spread there. Shortly after that and four days before she was to start her second round of chemo, she fell down stairs and broke her ankle and a bone in her leg. Joan started chemo again, but almost died from multiple infections. Her body couldn't handle that much chemo, she says. But she recovered.

"I have been very blessed. I think the reason I am still here is because of the support I have had from family, friends, neighbours and people who pray for me. My husband, Mario, cooks every meal and has been there for me every step of the way. My children, Ed, Kimberley and Debbie and my six grandchildren are there for me."

And the complimentary manicure and pedicure she received from Nie Spa (National Institute of Esthetics) on Legend Court in the Ancaster Meadowlands, has helped, too.

Nie Spa offers free services to anyone undergoing radiation or chemotherapy. "We want to support them," says owner Sherry Docherty, who has offered the service since she opened in December 2004. It is one of the few combination spa and aesthetics schools in the Ancaster area. All products are organic, and women come for the half-price student clinics.

For Sherry, treating cancer patients is a way of giving back. "The community supports us and, as aestheticians, we are in the business to make people feel good. They can come for manicures, pedicures, facials and makeup sessions and can come as long as they want," she says.

It's a wonderful service, says Joan, who thinks it is so generous. "Anything that makes you feel better. It gives me a pickup and helps you to feel a little more normal.

"When you are sick you get away from grooming yourself the way you used to, because you don't have the energy."

Joan says more women should take advantage. "If you feel better, it helps you with the fight and to be stronger. The whole thing is to fight and be strong and take support that you can use to make yourself feel better. That's why I am still here."

To book an appointment, call 905-304-0931.

Her beautiful long, dark brown, curly hair is gone. But it is going to a good place that will help someone else.

Noelle Smith, 41, owner of Ellenoire Boutique in Dundas, had her waist-length hair cut off last Saturday. She is donating it to Angel Hair for Kids, which provides wigs to children from financially disadvantaged families who have lost their hair from chemo and radiation.

Noelle harvested it before she loses it to the chemo treatments she will soon start. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. In February she had a mastectomy. "Donating my hair for someone else's benefit is another way to fight," says the single mother of Luke, 9. "I'm not waiting for it to come out in patches. I am taking control doing something good.

"Crazy, the whole thing (life) is crazy," she says. Her hair was gone in about two seconds -- an hour after she presented a curly-hair demonstration, an activity she has done in her store each week to show people the special products she sells for curly hair.

She lost her mother, Thalia Maughan, who was 64, to cancer last year. "It's pretty close to the bone. It's like mom passed the torch and I have to carry it, but it's a crappy torch. I just keep hoping that a whole bunch of good, new things are going to happen. You have to have change to make change."

Ellenoire, at 41 King St. W., features natural and organic bath and body products and custom-blended scents.

Sandra Epping is another fighter. Five years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. A year later, she started walking in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer, a benefit for Princess Margaret Hospital. Sandra is hosting an already sold-out nails and cocktails party, May 1, to fundraise for the September walk. Tamarra Hay of Oasis Spa and Lounge, on Garner Road West in Ancaster, is sponsoring the event. Sandra walks the Walk because, "I believe we will conquer breast cancer in our lifetime."

sbourret@thespec.com

905-526-3305