Our Little Hero

𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 | "𝐚𝗺 𝐢 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲?"

The hair loss at first was rather minimal. Callie hadn't seemed to notice any had fallen out, quite yet. Hailey and Jay had decided not to tell Callie just yet. They knew it would make her sad, mainly because Callie had always loved her hair. She loved to put it up in many different styles, with the help of her mother, of course. Everyone they met or saw always would mention how utterly beautiful sweet Callie's long, blonde, slightly wavy hair was. Other than her sweet smile, her hair was another thing that everyone loved. It was killing Hailey and Jay to watch it slowly fall out, but that was fully expected. The chemotherapy was the reason. And it broke their hearts.

Callie's hair had fallen out rather slowly, at the beginning. But soon enough, it was falling out in bigger and bigger clumps. More or less whenever Hailey or Jay would brush through Callie's blonde locks, or run their hands through it. Luckily, though, a good majority of it was falling out from the back of Callie's hair, which shielded her from having the opportunity to see any.

One day, things were different. Callie had just finished receiving her daily dose of the chemotherapy treatment, through her port. Hailey had then taken Callie to the bathroom, so she could go, after being stuck in the bed during her treatment. Yes, Callie was four, but sometimes she needed a little assistance. Hailey had let Callie up on the step stool for the small child to wash her hands after using the bathroom, and that's when it happened. The four year old had finally realized that her hair was falling out. She had managed to see the side of her head through the corner of her eye, when she had looked into the mirror. Once she had seen it, Callie reached her hands up to the sides of her head, as she then began to cry. Callie turned around to look at Hailey, as the tears filled her eyes, and began to roll down her cheeks. "Mommy! My hair, my hair, it's gone! I don't want it to go away!" The little girl cried, as Hailey immediately swept up her daughter. "I know, baby. I don't want it to go away either. But that's what happens with the medicine you have to have. But I promise you this, it will grow back one day. We just have to let your medicine finish its job and course first, but you will get your beautiful hair back one day." She told her four year old, before turning off the bathroom light, and taking the four year old back to her bed.

It didn't take very long before Callie had practically forgotten about the morning's endeavors. But, that was what it was like with young kids. She accepts and processes most things a lot easier, and evidently quicker, than most adults do. For goodness sakes, Hailey and Jay were still pretty upset that their baby girl's hair was falling out, and that she finally knew about it. But, they knew to hide those emotions from her. They didn't want Callie to have to be sad anymore about it, and they knew that she'd grow her hair back one day, after the chemo treatments were over. Because both Hailey and Jay knew that Callie would win her fight. She'd win the battle with her cancer, and her "good blood" would take back over, and everything would go back to the way that it was before her diagnosis. Everything would go back to normal. Or so they hoped.

After about a week more, little Callie's hair had officially fallen completely out. The young girl had lost all of her hair, and it was a rather sad time. But, the family had planned to make the absolute best of it. While Callie could no longer wear clip on bows, Hailey and Jay made sure that their daughter had all of the headbands, headband bows, and more, that she ever wanted. They even ordered her a few knotted headwraps, to keep her head warm if it got a bit cold. And with that, Callie had gotten used to it all, at least for the most part. By this point, Callie really had tried to simply avoid looking at her head, because it would just make her sad. For a kid who loved her hair more than most things in her life, it was hard not having her hair. But, she did really love those headwraps she had been given.

One evening, while Callie was still inpatient in the hospital, she and Jay had ventured on a little walk around the hospital. They had been given the "go ahead" from Callie's oncology team, and they decided it would be beneficial to have her walk, at least a little bit, to keep her legs in good shape. Callie was holding onto Jay's hand, like usual. This walk though, was different. And not in a good way.

 Callie and Jay had been walking around, when Callie could tell that someone was staring at her. She turned her head to see a kid, probably around seven or eight years old, staring at her. She had one of her headband bows on for this walk, instead of her typical headwrap, so it was obvious that the four year old girl had no hair. Once Callie had made eye contact with the older child, that child had turned away from Callie, and was no longer looking at her. She did hear, however, when the child spoke to their mother, and claimed that Callie looked like a boy. And that really made Callie think.

Once they were back in the room, Jay helped Callie up onto her bed, as he sat on the couch across from her. "Daddy, that kid called me a boy on our walk." Came Callie's small, sweet little voice. "I look like a boy with no hair. Daddy, am I ugly?" The four year old asked, and Jay could feel his heart plummet. His four year old little girl was already beginning to feel self conscious, over something fully out of her control.

"Callie you are not ugly, at all. You're the most beautiful little four year old I've ever met" Jay reassured her. "That kid just didn't understand. He doesn't understand that beauty doesn't have to be fully on the outside. You're just as beautiful on the inside, as you are on the outside. Just because you don't have any hair, doesn't make you ugly, Callie." He told her.

"In fact, your hair being gone only shows me even more how special you are." Jay told her, as he picked up his daughter, and placed her on his lap. "Really?" Callie asked him, as Jay gave her a nod. "It just makes me see how much of a real life superhero you are, Cal. You're mommy's superhero. You're Cosy's superhero. And you're my superhero. And you always will be" Jay informed her. From there, Callie smiled, and hugged her father. "I love you, daddy" Callie said.

"And I love you, Cal."

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AN: And that's the end of chapter seven! Please feel free to leave any comments you have! Comments, thoughts, questions, and everything is appreciated! Thank you all for reading!