Guest Column:

Costa Mesa resident Lysanne Sebastian is a beautiful and vibrant young woman of 36, married, with two darling children — Bradley, 4, and Sage, 2 — and is an accomplished athlete with a love of Hawaiian outrigger canoeing.

She is an active member of the Imua outrigger canoe team based at the Newport Aquatic Center, has paddled around Molokai twice, and even met her husband, Rick, when they were both paddling in an outrigger race to Catalina.

At the end of August, Lysanne’s life changed dramatically when she was diagnosed with invasive ductile carcinoma, or breast cancer. Initially, doctors did not think the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, but her subsequent biopsy revealed that two of the 11 lymph nodes removed were affected and immediate action was required to save Lysanne’s life.

Dr. Neil Barth, Lysanne’s oncologist at Hoag Hospital, scheduled her for a bilateral mastectomy, and recommended she begin chemotherapy without delay. Devastated, Lysanne realized her life was changing radically, and it was all happening at a head-spinning pace.

As part of Hawaiian culture, the word “ohana” means extended family and includes those who are blood-related, adoptive or intentional, and emphasizes that family is bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another with kindness. So when Lysanne decided to shave her head in preparation for chemotherapy, her ohana decided to meet the challenge right beside her, and threw Lysanne a head-shaving party.

Lysanne’s parents, Newport Beach residents Janet and Walkie Ray, known for their generous philanthropic work, along with other family members, friends and the entire Imua outrigger team gathered at Salon by the Bay on Oct. 17 and got the party started.

Pink pomegranate margaritas and pink lemonade flowed, and there was joking and laughter all around. Lysanne’s brother Alex had his head shaved first (her other brother David later shaved his head at home), then Rick, followed by Uncle Mike Ray, then Walkie Ray and finally, Lysanne. She didn’t want her girlfriends to shave their heads, so the women had a strip of their hair dyed pink in solidarity.

Everyone clapped and cheered and Lysanne vamped it up in her new hairdo. She looked radiant and strong, and smiled broadly when her daughter said “Mommy, you look so pretty!”