She heard about the center during her chemotherapy consultation in July. After a couple of months of dealing with her hair loss, she had it shaved off Sept. 22. She had grown tired of it falling out on her lunch tray and in the shower in large amounts.

“At one point when in the shower … I had a wall of hair instead of a wall of fame,” Mikealyn says. “I thought I could get a laugh out of it, and it was about a week before I got my head shaved. I showed my mom, and she cried. I’m not sad about losing my hair, though. It’s only temporary. I don’t feel different. I am proud of who I am and so is my family.”

Mikealyn’s dad, Mike O’Brien, and her 10-year-old brother, Sean, also decided to shave their heads on the same day as a sign of support.

“I promised that if she had to have her head shaved for any reason, that I would do the same,” O’Brien says. “It takes some of the stares off Mikealyn as people do not know who may be sick or if we are just a weird family with three people with shaved heads.”

Although Mikealyn went to dinner completely bald that night for the first time, she did get a wig that day as well. It took her a while to choose, and she tried every wig available.

A bright future

Lisa O’Brien feels thankful the hospital offers the service of the image center. She says it makes families feel they receive personal care and hopes other hospitals consider a similar place.

Machotka, meanwhile, always looks for ways to improve the center and stays open to suggestions.

“We have developed the space, we have Debi and a baseline of services, but this could go much bigger with more funds,” Kaminski says. “Wouldn’t it be great if we did a spa night once a week for family members? We could utilize the space much broader than what we are doing, but that takes resources that we don’t have right now.”

Mikealyn and Bradley also have plans for the future. While Bradley hopes to be an actor, Mikealyn dreams of being an EMT or brain surgeon. But for the time being, she is content to stay in the image center and get her hair fixed. She has an appointment in five minutes to begin her next round of chemotherapy after a two-week break but hesitates to leave. She looks at her mom and asks, “Can I stay here?”

1  |  2  |  3  |  4