A fire department in Texas has a nearly all-bald force after firefighters chose to shave their heads to support a colleague with cancer.
Jake Owen, a five-year veteran of the Jarrell Fire Department in Jarrell, Texas, was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in late January, according to his dad, Craig Owen, who also works as a firefighter in a neighboring town.
Shortly after the diagnosis, the 24-year-old firefighter underwent a 10-hour surgery to remove part of the tumor, followed by an eight-hour surgery several days later to remove the rest of the mass, according to Craig. While he is hospitalized nearly three hours away in Houston, Jake’s fellow firefighters decided to show their support by shaving their heads.
The first to do it was Jake’s direct supervisor, a lieutenant, who just showed up to work one day with a bald head, according to Jarrell Fire Chief Ron Stewart.
After that, everyone said, ‘”‘Let’s go do it,'” Stewart told Good Morning America. “It was just like, ‘We’ve got shears here today, everybody ready?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.'”
Nearly two dozen members of the department shaved their heads, according to Stewart, who also took part.
While Jake undergoes what is expected to be a long road of treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, his colleagues at the Jarrell Fire Department have pledged to make sure he never misses a paycheck, according to Stewart. That has already meant colleagues are taking on his shifts for him, for free, and donating their sick days.