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as told by Julie Hajewski and Linda Domke
 have been telling friends and family for years that I have an awesome, understanding manager in Linda Domke. Since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Linda has been supportive and involved.
 When Linda learned I would have to undergo chemotherapy and would lose my hair, she offered to let me shave her hair and charge co-workers $1 each to watch the event. It didn’t surprise me that she would do something like this; it is a beautiful gesture of friendship and caring.
The opportunity to shave Linda’s head brought some humor and fun to an event that, up to this point, was pretty humorless. Linda has even gone so far as to continue to shave her hair that grows—she says she’s not letting hers grow until mine starts to grow back!
You go through life taking a lot of things for granted (like hair!) until something big and ugly changes that. My Gundersen Lutheran friends and co-workers raised more than $8,000 to help me with medical expenses. A person could go a lifetime and never find friends as caring as Linda and my co-workers here. I guess I’ll be sharing my hats with her for the next few months.
Julie Hajewski and I have been co-workers and friends for a long time. When I found out she had breast cancer, I was devastated and wanted to find a way to help her out. I had a family member who had cancer, and after she lost her hair, she was so discouraged that she said, “I just want to shave somebody’s head.”
Since cancer is a very challenging time physically, emotionally and financially, I decided to let Julie shave my head and charge employees $1 each to watch. I thought this would be a great way to raise money for Julie and give her something to look back at and smile about when times are tough. I know she would do the same for me. |