A two-time cancer survivor from Bergen County is making New Jersey proud by making and donating knit caps to cancer patients.

Theresa Ehrich makes dozens of hats for people with cancer. Every few weeks, Ehrich travels to the cancer center at Hackensack University Medical Center to donate them.

Ehrich says that she got the idea to make the hats when she was at the cancer center undergoing her own treatment for the illness.

“I’d seen all these beautiful bald-headed women and I thought, ‘You know, their heads must be cold.’ I hadn’t lost my hair yet,” she says. “I would have never thought of it if I had not gone through cancer.”

The nurses and the patients say that they are very appreciative of Ehrich’s efforts.

“We just had a lovely moment in the clinic where Theresa had given [a hat] to a patient, and it brought her to tears,” says nurse Karen Dimonski.

“They appreciated it so much. It makes my heart feel good when I see how they appreciate it,” Ehrich says.

Ehrich also makes caps for the newborn babies at the hospital. She says that in the six years that she has been doing this, she has made thousands of caps – all in different colors and designs.

“Someone said, ‘They’re so pretty. You should sell them.’ But if I started selling them, it’s a job and I don’t want to do it,” says Ehrich.

Ehrich says that she doesn’t make the hats for recognition. She does it because she enjoys it and knows that the patients appreciate the gifts.