GENEVA — A gentle breeze caught a strand of Jack Hopkins’ long, honey-blonde hair Sunday afternoon, hair that is a growing gift to his cancer-stricken daughter.
While Hopkins of Austinburg Township took the two-mile Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure at Geneva High School, Heather DiNunzio, 36, was in Florida, living with stage four cancer.
“She found out she had breast cancer two years ago and she has been fighting, oh has she been fighting it every day since,” Hopkins said of his daughter.
Hopkins is growing out his hair as a gift to DiNunzio. The blond locks will be cut and given to her to be made into a wig.
In addition to chemotherapy treatments and a partial mastectomy, Dinunzio will face another mastectomy, Hopkins said.
“Heather is absolutely a fighter,” he said. “Her faith and motivation are undeniable. Her strength makes a two-mile walk very easy to do.”
Hopkins said the days after DiNunzio’s initial diagnosis was “terrifying.”
“Cancer runs rampant in our family,” he said. “But it was still a shock, an absolute shock, a lot of fear, a lot of crying.”
Hopkins said he began growing his hair immediately, knowing his daughter would need it.
“It needs to be eight to 10 inches long and I am just about there,” Hopkins said. “She can have it any time she wants it. This is her hair, not mine. I’ll happily go bald for her.”
Hopkins said DiNunzio has made her husband Christopher, and children, Emma Jane, 6, and Michael Anthony, 4, her focus.
“She lives for her children. They are her focus and her light. Nothing about this has been easy for her or for them, but they support each other so much,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said participating in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure is about positive energy and support and finding the cure that will save future generations of women from the heart-wrenching struggle with breast cancer.
“My prayers will fly up from Geneva and float to St. Augustine, Fla,” he said. “But I know that our prayers and the prayers and the hope of everyone here are needed all over the world.”
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