SEBASTIAN — Nearly four dozen people took a seat at Francesca’s Haircutters on Sebastian Boulevard on Sunday, a day the salon is typically closed, all looking for a new hairdo or a quick trim and a way to help others at the same time. Their $10 haircut fee was donated to the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.
Among those to stop in for a cut was School Board member Karen Disney-Brombach, who was looking for a trim up instead of a whole new style.
“This is something I have to do anyway,” Disney-Brombach said of getting her hair done. “Why not help” out Relay For Life and Sebastian Charter Junior High’s Relay team at the same time?
A first-time visitor to Francesca’s Haircutters, Disney-Brombach said that if she liked the trim, she just might come back as a regular.
This was the second year the salon has participated in a cut-a-thon to benefit Relay For Life – a cause that has become quite personal to the salon’s owner, Francesca Runion, a cancer survivor who is celebrating two years of remission.
“I thought I was done,” she said of being diagnosed with cancer. “It was totally over.”
But she found the strength to fight back and now is helping others to do the same.
“We’re just trying to find a cure,” Runion said.
Beyond her own personal connection to cancer, Runion noted that she has lost several clients to cancer.
“It’s time to find the cure,” she said.
While many who came into the salon on Sunday to get a haircut, others stopped by simply to make a donation.
One such woman was Lucaa Jandreau, who lost her husband last year to cancer. Jandreau and her husband had gone to the salon last year to participate in the cut-a-thon. This year, she simply wanted to make a donation.
When she told Runion that her husband had lost his battle with cancer, she began to tear up. Runion embraced her and offered her sympathy.
Jandreau wasn’t the only one to share her personal story at the salon.
Debbie Chorma, the Sebastian Charter Junior High team captain, said a woman came in earlier in the morning after having recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. The woman would have to undergo a double mastectomy.
Chorma told the woman of many others who have had cancer and how they have fought and survived, helping to comfort the new cancer warrior.
Along with haircuts, the salon became a hub for selling soda can tab bracelets and bookmarks, crocheted hot pads, hats and scarves, and wooden roses as another way to generate funds for Relay For Life.
Mattina Chorma, 13, a student at the charter middle school, was inspired to make the bracelets and bookmarks during a meeting of the school’s Ecology Club.
“That sounded cool,” she said of learning how to repurpose the tabs.
Another Sebastian Charter Junior High student, 14-year-old Megan Witt, helped out during the cut-a-thon, and also benefitted from a fresh trim.
“It was a surprise,” she said of being volunteered to wash customers’ hair. She said she was getting better with practice.
“I like a challenge,” Witt said.
Witt, too, has been touched by cancer – a family member is a four-time cancer survivor at the age of 20, having fought off Leukemia, thyroid cancer and synovial sarcoma.
Witt said she wanted to help however she could.
Though Sunday is typically a day off for the salon’s staff, many volunteered to help – without pay. One such haircutter was Trisha Fiorella, who has worked at Francesca’s Haircutters for almost two years.
“It’s nice to put yourself aside and help someone else,” she said of taking the opportunity to give back. “One day, who knows, maybe I’ll need the help, or my children will.”
Runion said she plans to continue her now-established tradition of hosting a Relay For Life cut-a-thon at her salon. Next year’s will be a few weeks before the north county Relay For Life event.
This year’s Relay event will be held at Sharks Stadium at Sebastian River High School on April 20, beginning at 6 p.m.
The Relay For Life of North Indian River is one of three held in Indian River County. The other two are Relay For Life Indian River at the Citrus Bowl at Vero Beach High School and Relay For Life of the Beaches at Riverside Park in Vero Beach.
The Beaches Relay will happen April 13, while the Indian River Relay will be held May 4.
For more information about the American Cancer Society Relay For Life, visit www.RelayForLife.org.
