Merchants sponsor makeover for Mount Airy mom
In a three-hour time span, when talking about her life story, Stephanie Hobbs says the word "I" only three times.
The frequent use of "we" and "us" is a habit she's adopted in the last three years. She also always has readily available in her purse pictures of her children and "Cure childhood cancer" bracelets.
For three years, Hobbs has helped Jacqueline in her fight against neuroblastoma. This type of cancer starts in early nerve cells, sometimes before a child is even born, and occurs primarily in children younger than 10, according to the American Cancer Society.
O'Hair Salon in downtown Frederick chose Hobbs as the winner of its third annual "Ambush Makeover" contest, and treated her and Jacqueline to a day of pampering and celebration for a hard-fought three years of living out of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and financial and emotional hardships.
Her daughter's diagnosis "changed everything for us," Hobbs said Monday afternoon, as she sat in the salon chair receiving her first haircut in about two years. "It makes you appreciate waking up every day. You don't think about the small things."
The small things such as going shopping and getting a facial, haircut and makeup application are what Hobbs was treated to this week by the salon, which selected her from about 15 other nominees from Frederick County.
The salon started the "Ambush Makeover" event two years ago as a way to reach out to the community, and took nominations for a makeover candidate from the community from August through October.
As the winner, Hobbs received a new dress donated by Aspire Women's Clothing Boutique on East Street, and she and her daughter received a facial, a haircut and color, and makeup from O'Hair Salon. A reveal of Hobbs' new look was held at Brewer's Alley Restaurant late Monday.
"This is a great way to show the community that this is who we are, this is what we do, we do small makeovers every single day, and we really want to help people in the community, especially in these tough economic times," said Roxanne Pugh, the salon's director.
"In the end, we found somebody that we all kind of connected to and identified with," she said.
Hobbs was nominated by Terri Warehime , who taught Jacqueline in the first grade at Twin Ridge Elementary School when she was a new teacher.
"When I met her, she was just such a dedicated mother, she always volunteered, and she just gave and gave," Warehime said.
She said Hobbs was an inspiration to her at the time, and when she heard years later that Jacqueline was diagnosed with cancer, she watched as Hobbs went from a dedicated school volunteer to an inspirational mother.
"She's been so busy taking care of everybody else — I thought, ‘Who deserves this more than Stephanie?'" Warehime said.
But, as Hobbs went through her day of pampering in preparation for the reveal of her new look to her friends and family, characteristically she deflected the credit from herself to her daughter.
"This is for me, but we wouldn't be here without her," she said, looking at her daughter, who was with her throughout her entire transformation.
Jacqueline is at a "no change, no growth" stage of her neuroblastoma — the equivalent to "remission" in childhood cancers — and Hobbs said they believe the makeover will provide a new start in their lives.
"Hopefully it's a new beginning for us — the cancer-free look," Hobbs said, chuckling with her daughter.
Tears flowed from participating Frederick merchants, friends and family when Hobbs revealed her new look Monday night — her trade of a pulled back, salt-and-pepper bun for a short, amber-highlighted bob was the big hit.
"She looks different to me and I've known her my whole life," said Hobbs' brother, Daniel Miller, who traveled from Pennsylvania to see the makeover. "My sister put her last three years on hold for herself, and she did what any good parent would do. She deserves this."
E-mail Erica L. Green at egreen@gazette.net.
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