Stylists unite for common cause

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Cindy Williams will never forget the day her son, Eric Fogg, told her he couldn’t remember details about the past few days.

It was August 2007, and the Lakewood Ranch resident was overwhelmed by the sudden change in her son’s demeanor. She took her son to the emergency room, where he spent five days in neurological intensive care.

While he was in the ICU, doctors ran neurological tests to determine if Fogg had brain cancer or had a stroke. It wasn’t until the fourth day that doctors diagnosed Fogg, who was 23 years old at the time, with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.

“He wasn’t textbook — that’s for certain,” Williams said. “His issues were all cognitive, and they came on quite rapidly.”

During and after her son’s diagnosis, Williams confided in her hairdresser Sophorn Touch, co-owner of Jules Touch Hair Salon in San Marco Plaza. But it wasn’t until two months ago, when Williams was talking about doing a walk to raise money for MS that Touch mentioned her stylist Annette Violante’s husband, Matthew, suffers from advanced MS.

“It’s such a prevalent disease, but it isn’t life-threatening,” Williams said. “People just say they have MS.”

Touch, along with fellow co-owner Julie Kramer, decided to hold a cut-a-thon to raise money for MS. The event will be held from noon to 4 p.m. April 15, at the salon, 8215 Natures Way, Suite 113, Lakewood Ranch. All haircuts will be $25, with proceeds going to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“This is the month of MS, and I know Cindy’s son has MS,” Touch said. “What better idea than to have a raffle and a cut-a-thon to make people more (aware)?”

“We want to make it as well known as breast cancer foundations are,” Kramer said.

In addition to haircuts, the salon also will be collecting donations as well as raffling off a number of different prizes, including a Babyliss Ferrari blow dryer, a foot massage, Mary Kay products, a Nano Titanium flat iron and gift certificates, among other prizes. Tickets for the raffle are $5 each.

“It sounds like it could be wonderful, and I’m just here to help,” Williams said. “Someone always knows someone with it. We all had a connection to the disease, and it just kind of grew from there.”

Similar to Williams’ son, Matthew Violante appeared to be in perfect health. But that changed one day 22 years ago, when he woke up blind. Matthew Violante was diagnosed with advanced MS, and since then, Annette Violante has watched the disease take its toll on her husband, leaving him confined to a wheelchair.
“It’s very difficult,” Annette Violante said. “What gets us through is faith and good friends. It’s hard. It’s a disease that hits the whole family. I’m sick, too. A part of you gets ill with them.

“There is hope though,” Violante said. “That’s what you have to really hold on to. It’s what makes us stronger human being. We’re very blessed, and we want to give back. It’s a privilege for me to be able to do this for other people. I don’t want them to have to go through what I’m going through.”

Jules Touch Hair Salon plans to turn its cut-a-thon into an annual event, donating the proceeds to a different charity every year.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].

INFORMATION
Multiple Sclerosis Cut-a-Thon
WHEN: Noon to 4 p.m. April 15
WHERE: Jules Touch Hair Salon, 8215 Natures Way, Suite 113, Lakewood Ranch
COST: Haircuts $25, raffle tickets $5
APPOINTMENTS: 907-0249; walk-ins welcome