50 Deputies Support Co-Worker With Leukemia by Shaving Their Heads

When Sheriff Timothy Whitcomb visited his co-worker and leukemia patient Undersheriff William Nichols in the hospital earlier this month, he wanted to do more than just cheer up his comrade. His solution? Get some of their fellow deputies at the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office in New York to show their support for Nichols by shaving their heads. Talk about a buzzworthy idea.

Nichols has had leukemia for approximately five years.

“In the 26 years I’ve worked with him, I’ve never seen him like this,” Whitcomb told Today.com. “I wish I could swap bodies with him for a week or just do anything to help him.”

After visiting with Nichols, Whitcomb sent a memo to office staffers encouraging them to donate to Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Nichols’ name, and he also invited employees to shave their heads to honor their colleague. “Several members of our agency have already committed to this by unifyingly coming together symbolically and joining in Bill’s fight with leukemia,” Whitcomb wrote in the memo.

What no one expected was for nearly 50 members of the sheriff’s office, including two women, to go bald for the cause. The group posed for a picture, which was then delivered to an emotional Nichols.

”He got a big kick out of it,” acting Undersheriff Robert Buchhardt told The Huffington Post. “[He said], ‘How does anyone expect me to come back and discipline anybody when these people went this far to do something for me?’”

Check out the video below via WGRZ to see the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office deputies show their support for Nichols: