hiya guys
as promised, i will tell you about lesley.
she has been having her nails & hair done at my salon for ten years.
her children are zoe 20, aaron 18 & jade 12.
she was 42.
she was a single parent & worked full time.
i know we all speak highly of people when they die out of respect, but that's really not nec. with lesley.
she had a heart of gold, & has helped me out in the past a few time's.
her sense of humour was always great & she swore like a trooper!
however her amazing strength of character became more evident when she was diagnosed with breast cancer on christmas eve 5 yrs ago.
for obvious reasons she kept this information to herself for a few days. the 1st thing she did was look up her condition on the web & go to her consultant with a list of questions as long as your arm!
this was the 1st time i'd had a client who was going to go thro chemo.
the advice she was given was;
only use baby shampoo
don't colour your hair
don't blowdry your hair
:shock:
lesley's reaction was actually unprintable :shock:
she decided that what was the point of having grey, lank, & frizzy hair, on the off chance that it might fall out.
which it might do anyway!
so, we coloured it
we shampooed it in usual luxury shampoo
& we blowdried it regularly, &....
it didn't fall out
these little victories really meant a lot to both lesley & myself.
lesley had surgery & further treatment & recovered to her normal self.
18 mths ago, after some back pain it was discovered that the cancer had returned to her bones.
further treatment of chemo followed & this time we weren't so lucky.
lesley lost her hair rapidly, & again i had a new experience, i helped her locate a really gd wig & i restyled it. we really laughed
her hair started to regrow about 14 mnths ago.
to her horror, it grew back curly. & i mean VERY curly :shock:
we cut & coloured it every 4 wks, & in the circumstances, i'm glad to say that recently it had returned to its former glory!
so... her nails...
lesley was well known for her nails.
she wore them longer than anyone else in the salon, & they were lovingly looked after.
even her holidays were booked around her nail appointments!!!
lesley had never looked "ill" in all that time, & everybody had assumed that she was fully through the worst.
however on thurs. she went to the doctors to show him bruises that kept appearing on her legs.
after returning home, she started losing control of her arms. by that night she was admitted to hospital very poorly.
she slipped into uncontiousness on sat.
amanda at my salon received the phonecall from zoe on sat teatime.
unfortunately, i was well on my way to manchester by the time amanda phoned me.
she went to the hospital to see her and amanda called me early sun morn. to tell me that lesley had passed away at 3am sun morn.
her passion for her nails led her to call for amanda when she was v.poorly.
she was due in this evening at 5.30, & zoe's convinced that she remembered that.
this is the 1st time for me that such a strong person, that i've known so well has died.
my father-in-law died 5 yrs ago, & as horendous as it was, i think that the relationship between a client & technician over 10 yrs, seems to grow deeper , especially when you have shared their innermost fears and hopes for the future.
our thoughts & love r with her children, & i think all of us were glad when our day in the salon today finished.
i'm sorry to do my usual essal length thingie, but she was that rememberable that i wanted to share this with you all............
liza xx