Woman chops off hair for aunt with cancer
WITH LOVE — Lynne Haskin (left) and her niece, Lisa Underwood (right), proudly display the hair they cut off to donate to Locks for Love. Photo by Joshua Estabrooks
By Kelsey Verboom
Pioneer Staff
Touched by her aunt’s battle with breast cancer, Lisa Underwood decided to do something about it.
Lisa, 20, comes from a family strongly affected by cancer. Her grandmother passed away from breast cancer at age 39, and her mom, valley local Heather McLaughlin, as well as her aunt, Invermere’s Lynne Haskin, both have been affected by the same type of cancer.
Heather is now cancer-free, thanks to detection by a digital mammogram machine like the one the Cranbrook hospital is hoping to bring in.
But Lynne, who went through breast cancer 12 years ago, was recently re-diagnosed. Lisa felt strongly about how the disease has affected her family, so she decided to cut off her long, blonde hair to support her aunt’s battle.
On January 19th at Scizzor Sisters salon in Invermere, the women sat together, teary-eyed, while their hair was snipped and carefully collected in ponytails that will be donated to the wig program for cancer patients, Locks for Love.
“I didn’t want her to be alone,” Lisa said. “I’ve enjoyed having long hair and now someone else can enjoy it.”
Cancer is “scary as hell,” Lynne said, but that having support like Lisa’s helps her through it.
“It means an awful lot. When I first found out I was in tears. I love having long hair, and just cutting it is a blow to me, let alone losing it. So to have someone else do it with me is phenomenal.”
For more information about Locks for Love, go to www.locksoflove.org.
