{"id":905,"date":"2013-06-04T18:42:47","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T18:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turningheadsproject.org\/?p=905"},"modified":"2013-07-26T16:33:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-26T16:33:11","slug":"905","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/turning-heads.org\/905\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yeah, yeah, I know what you\u2019re saying \u2013 you\u2019re a dude, you lost your hair, get on with it.\u00a0 And honestly that\u2019s how I thought it would be.\u00a0 Shave it clean and walk around like Pit Bull, that\u2019s what I\u2019d do.\u00a0 Until the reality of it actually hit.<\/p>\n

When I was diagnosed in February of 2013, my doc told me my hair would be gone in two weeks.\u00a0 Well one week went by, two, three, four weeks.\u00a0 I started to think maybe I\u2019d be one of the lucky ones.\u00a0 Then it began, patches started coming out in different places and after a few days there was no hiding it, it was time for the razor.\u00a0 I was still thinking, \u201cI got this\u201d.<\/p>\n

I never really contemplated that it would be so shocking, seeing a totally bald me looking back in the mirror.\u00a0 I know a lot of guys lose their hair of course and I\u2019m pretty sure a lot of them don\u2019t particularly like it.\u00a0 But you generally have time to grow into it.\u00a0 I went from thick Adam Levine hair one week to none at all in a couple more.\u00a0 And yeah, it affected me more than I imagined it would.\u00a0 I mean, there are so many terrible things that happen in the world, how can I even think this is a big deal.\u00a0 But inside it was.<\/p>\n

So I started wearing caps \u2013 like all the time.\u00a0 And I would definitely not leave the house without one.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t see myself as a guy without hair, I guess I saw myself as a guy with cancer and everybody else saw the same thing.\u00a0 I knew I needed to get over that and so one time when I took my parents to the buffet at the casino I decided to take my cap off.\u00a0 Then some lady kept staring at me and I kept getting more and more uncomfortable.\u00a0 I mean, she could have been staring at me for anything (maybe she thought I was all that, LOL), but to me I thought she must know I have cancer.\u00a0 So I put the cap back on and didn\u2019t take it off again.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t take or post any bald pics, even though people asked me to.<\/p>\n

Then I saw a flyer for Turning Heads Project at Gilda\u2019s Club and I checked it out.\u00a0 It seemed to me to be more for women but I sent a message.\u00a0 Then Debbie called me back and told me they would love to have their first guy photo shoot, she knew guys were affected emotionally by cancer too, even though we sometimes like to act like we\u2019re not (you know, the strong, silent type, heh, heh).\u00a0 She arranged it, I went in and there was Debbie and Stacy and Olga (along with Stacy\u2019s husband Jimmy).\u00a0 Let me tell you, these ladies are AWESOME!!\u00a0 It was a blast and the pics are pretty dang good I have to admit, lol.\u00a0 I realized I didn\u2019t just look like the cancer guy, I just looked like a guy.\u00a0 And even if anyone thought I had cancer \u2013 so what, I do.\u00a0 I still wear caps sometimes, mostly to protect my head from the sun, but just as often not and I\u2019m okay with it.\u00a0 So yeah, I do have this!!<\/p>\n

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