SOLANA BEACH — Eleven years ago, Kelly O’Donnell was looking for a job. She had worked as a hair dresser and had also worked in a physical therapy department, so when she saw an ad in the paper that read, “Experience in cutting wigs and working with prosthetics,” she decided to inquire within.

“I did hair and worked with prosthetics and thought, ‘How strange that it would all come together,’” said O’Donnell, a San Diego resident.

She was hired on the spot and everything has since fallen into place for O’Donnell, who is now co-owner of The Brighter Side, a specialty boutique for women who are undergoing chemotherapy and fighting cancer. The shop’s offerings range from custom wigs, bras, and bathing suits to prosthetic breasts.

O’Donnell, her sister, Mari Muscio, and friend, Sherre Cain — both of Solana Beach — pitched in and bought the shop seven years ago.

“I always wanted to open a business that would help women,” Muscio said.

The women who own The Brighter Side aim to cheer other women up, and they succeed.

As every woman and her supportive loved ones enter the door, they are quickly greeted by Buffy, a 2 ?-year-old Pomeranian who is an adorable snowball of a dog. “Sometimes I’ll have her in the room and she’ll sit on a woman’s lap. She just changes everything,” O’ Donnell said, adding that Buffy does act as a buffer in reducing the tension in customers who are losing their hair from chemotherapy. “It can be so devastating.”

Ruth Tomborello, a San Marcos resident, works on site to customize wigs for the cancer patients. Prior to working at The Brighter Side, Tomborello worked in cosmetology. “I used to shave their hair,” she said of her past clients who were getting chemotherapy treatment. “But we don’t do that here.”

For most women, just the slightest change in hairstyle and color will make them feel better, and Tomborello said she sees the transformation every day. “It’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. Many women look in the mirror and say, ‘You know, I know I’m sick, I know I’m going through chemo but then I see my hair and see how pretty I look.’ That is the most rewarding thing I hear, and we get it all the time,” she said.

The owners of The Brighter Side want to make sure that every woman that comes into their store has the resources to walk out with what they need — even if they don’t have insurance that covers the purchases. “If they don’t have insurance or can’t afford a co-pay, our nonprofit will take care of that,” O’ Donnell said.

The products can be expensive, one prosthetic breast ranges from $300 to $400. The Virginia Ann Scheunemann Memorial Fund enables low-income women and the uninsured to receive financial aid. The nonprofit recently received a $15,000 grant from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

With the help from their nonprofit, the women who run The Brighter Side said they witness their customers seeing that there is indeed a brighter side to their condition. “They turn into different people. They turn into these little fighters,” O’ Donnell said. “I hear them say, ‘You know, I always wanted to climb Mount Everest or start my own business.’ All of a sudden they don’t wait. They do it.”

The Brighter Side is located at 439 South Cedros Ave. in Solana Beach. For more information about the boutique, call (858) 481-7565 or visit www.brighterside.com.