MINOT – Monday morning, there were three shaved heads at the Minot Consolidated School.
That number doubled and doubled again so that, by Thursday, there were more than a dozen bald middle school boys bobbing about.
“We shaved our heads because our friend has leukemia and he lost all his hair. Now he won’t feel bad when he comes back; we’ll all be bald,” explained eighth-grader Dalton McLafferty.
McLafferty’s friend is his classmate, Nathan Thistlewaite, who, a little more than a month ago, came down with a cold that wouldn’t get better.
On Nov. 23, Nathan was diagnosed with leukemia. Since then, he has been at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland undergoing chemotherapy treatments that have resulted in rapid hair loss.
“When I talked with him on the phone last week, he said he was losing his hair, so Scott and I shaved our heads before we went down,” said Sawyer Cesare.
Rubbing the stubble that was once shoulder-length hair, eighth-grader Scott Blossom grinned.
“We saw him on Saturday. He was surprised at what we had done. He laughed. I think he liked it,” said Blossom.
Blossom noted that Nathan was doing “pretty good.”
“He doesn’t like regular food; he eats a lot of Jell-O,” said Blossom.
Cesare added that, as it turned out, Saturday was Nathan’s brother, Tyler’s, 10th birthday.
“I must have had five ice creams while we were there and Nathan probably did, too,” said Cesare.
Jonah Farrington, a seventh-grader on the Minot Mustangs basketball team, said he was going to try to get the whole team to shave their heads.
“Nathan was going to try out when he got sick. He would have made the team; he’s good; he’s tall. It would be great if the whole team shaved,” said Farrington.
Pulling a wool cap out of his pocket, Devan Picard, noted that being bald has certain drawbacks.
“Sometimes my head gets cold. It’s definitely colder in the middle school end than in the lower end,” the eighth-grader remarked.
Nathan’s math teacher, Karen Nichols, was pleased with what the students were doing.
“What these young men have done is noble,” said Nichols.
Carol Thistlewaite said she was moved by the support her son is receiving. “It’s great. They are really supportive. It makes Nathan all happy to know everyone’s pulling for him,” said Carol Thistlewaite.
JT Stewart summed up the Minot middle schoolers’ determination to stand by their friend.
“It would be good if he could come back soon. If he can’t, I’m going to re-shave my head when he does come back,” Stewart announced.
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