Five sisters shaved their heads when their mother, Patsi Giese, lost her hair while undergoing chemotherapy treatments.
“Oh my gosh. You would not understand how ungodly happy that made me feel,” Giese said. “They all have wonderful hair, and to see them shave it tore at my heart.”
Giese, who will be 78 in February, was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer three months ago. The location of the tumor makes it inoperable.
She will undergo radiation and chemotherapy Monday through Friday until mid-January at Appleton Medical Center. During the week she stays at the home of her daughter, Rhonda Eake, in Neenah.
Giese said she was nervous about losing her hair.
“It was almost right away,” said her daughter, Donna Beyer, who lives in Shawano.
The five sisters — Beyer, Eake, Robin Going, Julie Kuhnke and Cheryle Bennin — came to the same conclusion at nearly the same time: to support their mother and make her smile by shaving their heads.
“Mom took the first cut of our hair,” Beyer said. “My hair was real long.”
On Dec. 7 and 8, Christine Schutt of CeCe’s Salon in Shawano finished cutting the women’s hair, which was donated to Locks of Love. The sisters were happy to make their mother feel better, but it was an emotional time.
“Rhonda cried, and then we all cried,” Beyer said.
It did lift Giese’s spirits, Beyer said.
“She got us all little hats,” she said.
Beyer said her mom tires easily but is still upbeat with a great attitude.
Patsi and her husband of 55 years, Jake, live in Lunds. They will spend Christmas at Bennin’s Shawano house with lots of family.
“You couldn’t ask for a better one,” Giese said.
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