Arkansas Father Shaves Head to Support Daughter's Ongoing Chemotherapy

chemotherapy cancer neuroblastoma

By Camille Hutchison , Parent Herald Jul 10, 01:58 pm

A father from Arkansas has decided to cut off the dreadlocks that he'd been flourishing for the last 10 years to support his daughter who lost hair while undergoing chemotherapy.

Kevin Stokes, 32, showed support to his daughter by shaving his head. Nova Stokes, Kevin's younger daughter, was diagnosed in March with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a kind of cancer that affects young children's nerve cells, as stated by the National Cancer Institute .

At the time when she was just only 9 months, her parents would've never predicted the diagnosis she would receive when they observed that Nova didn't seem like herself after the past spring.

Heartwarming Support of Fathe to His Daughter With Cancer

The Stokes Family sought out groups for parents who have children with Neuroblastoma and started seeking options for their daughter, Nova.

They have decided to give their daughter the best treatment possible and since May, their daughter has been receiving treatments for her sickness at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

After Nova's first round of Chemotherapy, she soon started losing her hair. Even though Nicolette and Kevin, Nova's parents, expected it was something that could happen, they were still shocked upon witnessing their daughter losing her hair.

"That was a very emotional day for us," Kevin told Good Morning America (GMA) .

"It happened so fast. Like, it honestly happened in a span of a day. It started to fall out the previous night, and then the next day, it was just like over half her head was bald, so we went and just cut the rest," Nicolette added

Nova's Father Is With Her Every Step of the Way

Kevin had been growing his dreadlocks for 10 years but did not hesitate to shave his head to show support to his daughter who was diagnosed with cancer.

Nova's parents didn't notice her diagnosis not until one day she seemed tired and her stomach was swollen so her parents immediately took her into the emergency room as she was almost unresponsive and there, they were informed of the devastating news that Nova has Neuroblastoma.

Kevin started growing his hair in 2012 as he wanted long hair growing up and saw such years as an opportunity to grow it out so he just kept it growing and he never planned to cut his hair. When the situation of her daughter Nova came up, Kevin felt like shaving his head is something he needed to do and to also bring awareness to Neuroblastoma.

Kevin is known for his long hair and it's something people knew him by and he was absolutely attached to it.

According to Lessons Learned In Life, last month, the Stokes family posted a video of Kevin cutting his hair with the caption: "Anything for baby Nova." His children were totally shocked upon seeing his new appearance and they just started staring at him.