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Nurse of the Week: Alison Pike Donates Hair to Fellow Nurse After Chemotherapy Treatment

Apr 3, 2019 | News, Nurse of the Week

Our Nurse of the Week is Alison Pike who donated her hair to a fellow nurse who had lost hers after chemotherapy treatment. Pike, and the nurse who she donated her hair to, Gra Doherty, are both nurses at Wolfson Children’s Hospital. Doherty’s hair started falling out after chemotherapy treatment for her multiple sclerosis, a devastating loss that left her not wanting to leave her house.

Doherty recalls when she first started losing her hair and says, “I felt very uncomfortable just because I didn’t feel like myself. I’m a hair twirler. I’m a hair flipper. I’ve had long hair my whole life.”

After hearing about what she was going through, Doherty’s coworkers came up with a surprise for her. Pike cut off 10 inches of her own hair and then she and a group of other nurses collected $400 to have it made into a custom wig for Doherty.

Pike tells AJC.com, “The way her demeanor changed from before to after, I mean, I want to grow my hair out eight more times.”

Doherty’s coworkers won’t be seeing her around Wolfson in the near future—she is traveling to Northwestern in Chicago for a new experimental treatment that could save her life. She was referred for a clinical trial for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or HSCT.

Once she’s able, Doherty hopes to raise money for people whose insurance doesn’t cover the expensive fee for HSCT treatment, to help take away some of the burdens of the disease and treatment in the way that others have done for her.

To learn more about our Nurse of the Week Alison Pike who donated her hair to fellow nurse Gra Dohety who lost her hair following chemotherapy treatment for multiple sclerosis, visit here.

Christina Morgan
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