{"id":232,"date":"2026-05-22T10:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=232"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:49:24","slug":"a-strangers-compliment-helped-her-feel-confident-after-chemo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=232","title":{"rendered":"A stranger’s compliment helped her feel confident after chemo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In her late 50s, Pat Gentile was diagnosed with breast cancer. During chemotherapy, she lost all her hair, so she began to wear a wig.<\/p>

Read more As voters prioritize cost of living, focus on abortion evolves in midterm elections<\/a><\/p>

“But that wig \u2014 and I only had one wig \u2014 that wig was itchy, and it was annoying,” Gentile said. “So at some point, I decided when I sort of had a crew cut look that it was time to give the wig up.”<\/p>

Her first time driving to work without the wig, Gentile felt exposed. As the dean of a local college and a frequent spokesperson, she worried about how people would respond.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t want to get the ‘pity eyes’ that people give you when you’re sick,” Gentile said. “I wanted to just keep moving.”<\/p>

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\"Barb<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
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My Unsung Hero <\/h3>\n

How a nurse’s kind words changed the course of one woman’s life<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

She stopped at a convenience store to pick up some coffee and lunch. As she shopped through the aisles, a woman approached her. Fifteen years later, Gentile still remembers what the woman said.<\/p>

“She said, ‘Not everybody could wear a hairstyle like that. You look fabulous.'”<\/p>

Gentile was stunned. She managed to say, “Thank you,” before the woman walked away. Then she went back to her car, letting the words settle.<\/p>

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“I sat there for a while, sort of embracing this wonderful, kind thing that this person had said to me,” Gentile said.<\/p>

“And it really made a turning point for me that made me feel seen, made me feel normal and gave me the courage to get to work and just get started.”<\/p>

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\n
\"Larry<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

My Unsung Hero <\/h3>\n

Neighbors and church members transformed the home of a man with terminal cancer<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Gentile donated the wig and never looked back. She completed chemotherapy and has had no evidence of cancer since 2011.<\/p>

Thinking back to that encounter, she credits the woman’s kindness as a turning point. She says it inspires her to see other people the way that stranger saw her and to acknowledge what they might be going through.<\/p>

“I think about this woman a lot. I still see her in my mind’s eye. I only saw her for a few seconds, but she made such an impression on me that I’m kinder because of her. So I’m very grateful.”<\/p>

Read more What is the \u2018tarps off\u2019 trend that men are engaging in? Find out in the quiz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Pat Gentile began to grow out her hair after chemotherapy, she was nervous to go to work for the first time without a wig. 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