Batesville Herald Tribune, Batesville, Indiana

Fri, May 09 2008

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Photos

Rick Schroder at Designer Joe’s gives Deb Tocco the first braid of hair he cut off. Tocco will be donating her hair to Locks of Love in honor of her sister.
Pharos-Tribune photo by Arnold Ernest /

Rick Schroder measures Deb Tocco’s hair. She is donating two braids to Locks of Love.
Pharos-Tribune photo by Arnold Ernest /

Rick Schroder cuts Deb Tocco’s hair. For her sister who died of leukemia at the age of 17, Tocco got her hair cut off to donate to a child.
Pharos-Tribune photo by Arnold Ernest /

The hair that Deb Tocco got cut off equals two braids. Twelve braids makes a wig at Locks of Love, which provides hairpieces to children.
Pharos-Tribune photo by Arnold Ernest /

Here is Diana in her senior year picture.
Photo provided /

Published March 22, 2008 11:29 pm - It had been 2 1/2 years since Deb Tocco last got her hair cut.

For the love of her sister
Deb Tocco gets her hair cut in honor of her sister who died of leukemia

By Melissa Soria
THE PHAROS-TRIBUNE (LOGANSPORT, Ind.)

LOGANSPORT, Ind. —

It had been 2 1/2 years since Deb Tocco last got her hair cut.

On Friday, she had all of her hair cut off, and she plans to donate it to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children suffering from long-term hair loss. The organization has helped more than 2,000 children since it began in 1998.

The day was special for Tocco because she saw her sister lose all of her hair when she was diagnosed with leukemia 38 years ago.

Diana Demerly was diagnosed with leukemia in 1970 when she was 17. She lost all of her thick, blond hair when she underwent chemotherapy.

Tocco was 15 when Demerly died, but she still thinks about her sister every day.

Demerly had just entered her senior year at Logansport High School when she found out she had leukemia.

“Being a senior was such a big deal back then,” Tocco recalled. “I just remembered she was so excited about finally being a senior.”

Demerly was excited about being able to participate in cheer block. She was an avid Beatles fan who had taught herself how to play the guitar.

The sisters were close, Tocco said.

Tocco remembers when she and her parents, Bill and Doris Demerly, found out that her sister had leukemia.

“I guess it just all happened in one night,” she said. “I remember she was complaining of back pains. She couldn’t go to sleep. My mom made an appointment the next day here in Logansport.”

Doctors thought she had a kidney infection, but blood results showed she had acute lymphatic leukemia.

Demerly spent the next several months in and out of hospitals in Logansport and Indianapolis. Doctors gave her 6 months to 2 years to live.

Back then, there wasn’t much research on the disease, Tocco recalled. Bone marrow transplants had not been discovered yet.

In fact, Tocco said, 100 percent of her sister’s bills were paid for because her father’s insurance company called leukemia “the dreaded disease.”

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