Shaved head shines as a symbol of hope

FORT MEADE, MD, UNITED STATES

09.02.2014

Story by Erica Skolte 

Defense Information School

FORT MEADE, Md. - The swoosh of the automatic door announces the arrival of weary travelers as they struggle, dragging themselves and their heavy suitcases through the front door of the hotel. When they lift their tired heads, there, at the desk to greet them, is a most unusual sight.

At first glance, new arrivals might assume the woman behind the desk is bald because she is battling cancer, and has lost her hair to the ravages of chemotherapy. But as the details emerge, they don’t quite add up. Her brown eyes are framed by full eyebrows, and there’s that little bit of stubble...it’s not the profound and complete baldness one would expect with chemo. There’s obviously something else going on.

So guests wonder, but it takes time to work up the courage to ask.

When they finally do, they find out that Lynn Hope is indeed a breast cancer survivor, but she won her personal battle with breast cancer more than six years ago. Most people would gladly leave cancer and any and all reminders of their brush with mortality far, far behind, but Hope is unique. She has made a conscious decision to keep her head shaved. Especially for those who are in the midst of the fight, or for other survivors, Hope’s intentional baldness offers a living, breathing reminder that serves as symbol of solidarity, support, survival and hope.

Her nametag simply says “Hope.” “I go by my last name. I don’t go by Lynn. I’ve been military all my life, and in the military, everyone calls each other by their last name, so I use my last name as my first
name,” Hope claims. Though her father was in the Air Force, she married into the Army, and she is working on base as a guest services representative, there is a sense that there is a deeper reason for choosing the name “Hope.”

Years ago, Hope told her former assistant manager, Calvert McCollum, that she wanted to go by her last name. He affectionately teased her whenever they spoke, repeating over and over, “Keep Hope alive! Keep Hope alive!”. One must wonder whether “Mr. C” realized how prophetic his words would one day turn out to be, both literally and symbolically.

Hope was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 after her trusted doctor of twenty years found a lump during a routine doctor’s appointment. When she got the results of the biopsy, she broke down, crying. “I couldn’t talk. I didn’t want to tell anyone anything.”

Hope underwent a double mastectomy and reconstruction, which is tough for most women, especially if they do not have support. Having reconstruction is not at all the same as having elective surgery for breast augmentation. In many cases, there is a large horizontal scar and the nipples must be removed as a precaution. Both are permanent and visible reminders of the battle with breast cancer.

Hope healed, but had to undergo extensive chemotherapy. After her 80-year old mother was hospitalized, .Hope felt torn between saving her own life and seeing her mother again. They were very close and spoke on the phone every day, but Hope was devastated when she lost her mother a few days before Christmas.

“Every December, it still hurts,” Hope said. “She never got to see that I was okay.”

Hope describes her first chemo session as “eight grueling hours alone,” but said she felt fine afterwards. That weekend, when she washed her hair, it fell out in clumps. “Naturally, I freaked out,” said Hope. “You knew this was going to happen,” said her daughter. Then she took Hope home, where her son-in-law shaved her head for the very first time.

As the treatments continued, chemo took a toll on Hope. “I had no energy. I could not work. I stayed in my pajamas all day and it was all I could do to brush my teeth. The only thing I could eat was Campbell’s beef soup. The smell of anything else made me sick,” Hope said. “Chemo is no joke. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

The one thing that got her through it all was her constant companion, Jazzy Lady. The little Shih Tzu-Poodle mix sat on her belly for months, providing pet therapy and much-needed comfort.

After going through all that and more, Hope decided to keep her head shaved. “I wanted to make a statement,” said Hope. “I wanted to say that even though I had cancer, cancer didn’t have me.”

“Hope is a little bit of an inspiration for all of us,” said Brenda Stoner, Hope’s supervisor and the general manager of the hotel. “She’s a survivor. Whatever comes to her, she takes it, she owns it, and she faces adversity head-on.”

“Think of how many lives Hope has touched,” said Stoner. “Many people come for training at the Defense Information School, or come through Fort Meade on the way to their active duty stations. More than 140,000 people pass through our doors every year. Many have experienced Hope’s honesty and compassion.”

“Everyone says I’m strong. I’ve got courage. I don’t see that. I see myself as living day to day, the best I can,” said Hope. “My neighbor told me I’m her inspiration. She said, ‘If you can do it, I can do it also.’”

“I want people to know that they can beat breast cancer, and that they are not alone,” said Hope. ”I want all of their stories and my story to have a happy ending.”

• Date Taken: 09.02.2014
• Date Posted: 09.29.2014 10:35
• Story ID: 143592
• Location: FORT MEADE, MD, US
• Hometown: FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MD, US
• Hometown: FORT MEADE, MD, US
• Hometown: SEVERN, MD, US