Two sisters shave heads to support their mom, who is undergoing chemotherapy. They pushed through with the idea even though their mom tried to stop them from doing so. The duo said that they do not want their mom to go through it alone.
Joanna McPherson told Good Morning America that she kept discouraging her daughters from their idea of joining her as she loses hair. She noted that she did not know if her two kids know what they were asking their parents to do.
She explained to them that hair is a part of their features. The mom-of-four told her daughters that their head could get cold and other children could make fun of them for having no hair. But her daughters gave her a touching answer.
The children told their mom that they do not want their mom to go through it alone. They insisted on having their heads shaved too in support of their mom, who is undergoing treatment.
Diagnosed with breast cancer
In October 2018, the Shreveport, Louisiana mom got diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer. Shortly after, she started with her chemotherapy treatment. According to Mayo Clinic, the type of breast cancer McPherson has can be more aggressive than the other types.
At first, doctors diagnosed the Air Force colonel mom with a different type of breast cancer. Later, they determined that she had HER2 after she had a double mastectomy. McPherson already had three rounds of chemo, and she had three more to go.
Husband shaved wife's head
On December 21, she started losing hair, so Shawn McPherson, the husband, shaved everything off her head. Her two middle daughters, ten-year-old Kayla and seven-year-old Sophia, asked her if they could also do the same a few weeks later.
The McPherson family had everyone helped. Shawn handled the buzzer, while Kayla captured the events in a video. McPherson stood by watching as tears filled her eyes.
Never had the same passion as her daughters
She explained that she had never felt the same passion as her two daughters when she was their age. She agreed with them because she wants to let her children express themselves as they deal with the pain and difficult times in their lives as someone they love goes through the same.
McPherson also added by saying that she felt it was "very sweet" of her daughters to "make a grand gesture of love." She also noted that they have "such big hearts" to support her in her treatment journey.
The mom writes in her blog, her2positivelife.com, about her experiences. She hopes that other families who are undergoing the same situation as hers could benefit from her writings. She is also a mom to 11-year-old Alexa and four-year-old Jocelyn.
1 Day Post Mastectomy---It's been 2 years since I had surgery that saved my life. I remember looking at the mammogram... Posted by J Saenz McPherson on Saturday, October 17, 2020
