Leominster woman going through cancer treatment gets her bald head hennaed by local artist

Leominster resident Michelle Behr started losing her hair a couple weeks ago due to chemotherapy treatments for cancer and decided to get henna on her bald head. Henna artist Mandy Roberge answered her call on social media and offered to do a complimentary henna crown on Behr at her Wicked Good Henna Merriam Ave. studio.

By Danielle Ray | dray@sentinelandenterprise.com | Sentinel & Enterprise

April 13, 2021 at 6:05 a.m.

LEOMINSTER – Michelle Behr leaned on her village for support after hearing the dreaded words “you have cancer” two weeks after having a hysterectomy last September.

“I was scared, but dear friends were here and have been helping me navigate the confusing, paperwork-filled experience of having a terminal illness,” she said.

Michelle Behr looks over henna crown design options at Wicked Good Henna on Merriam Ave.

When Behr began to lose her hair recently due to chemotherapy treatments for leiomyosarcoma, a rare, soft tissue, aggressive sarcoma, she decided to take matters into her own hands and transform her bald head into a work of art. She posted on social media inquiring about local henna artists and Mandy Roberge answered the call and offered her services free of charge.

The two women met at Roberge’s Wicked Good Henna studio on Merriam Avenue over the weekend where she gave Behr an impressive and ornate mandala style design henna crown.

“It’s always been important to me to give back to my community in any way I can, and offering free crowns is a way that I can really share my art and my values at the same time,” Roberge said. “As one of three daughters and a mother of three daughters, it’s important to me that women feel supported and valued and worthy at the most vulnerable times in their lives.”

Mandy Roberge hennaed Michelle Behr’s head with an impressive and ornate mandala style design at her Merriam Ave. studio, Wicked Good Henna.

Behr brought along her boyfriend, who watched and photographed the process, even taking a time-lapse video.

“My hair started to fall out about two weeks ago,” Behr said. “I have seen henna art for years and have had henna before, so I knew I’d get my head hennaed when my hair fell out.”

Behr, who has lived in Leominster for four years, was an activities director in a nursing home for over 20 years, working with seniors with various levels of dementia. She stopped working in February, the Friday before her first chemotherapy appointment.

“I just started round two of chemo,” she said. “The tumors shrunk so I’m continuing treatments for now. I am also taking Rick Simpson Oil which is a full spectrum cannabinoid that is helping me with pain management and is known to shrink tumors.”

Behr has a friend who has a doctorate in henna studies. Her friend told her a story about traveling to India for a wedding and witnessing a woman with cancer who got henna and said the pain went away in her hands and feet afterwards.

Mandy Roberge applies henna to Michelle Behr’s head. Behr is currently going through chemotherapy treatments after being diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare, soft tissue, aggressive sarcoma, last September.

“I have put henna on people with chronic pain and they say when getting it they don’t feel pain,” Roberge said. “It could be a focus thing.”

Roberge is no stranger to doing henna on people going through cancer treatments. She volunteers at The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden in Harvard, a cancer support center located in eight acres of woodlands and gardens, and she does henna on patients there, “some bald heads.”

“I have been offering free henna and also free henna crowns at The Healing Garden for a handful of years” she said. “Prior to that, I always offered free henna crowns, but it was more of a word-of-mouth service.”

Behr said she is grateful to Roberge for decorating her head with beautiful henna artwork.

Mandy Roberge of Wicked Good Henna volunteers at The Virginia Thurston Healing Garden in Harvard, a cancer support center located in eight acres of woodlands and gardens, and does henna on patients there, “some bald heads.”

“I’m so thankful to Mandy for offering to henna my head because I lost my hair,” Behr said. “I really appreciate her talent and time making this challenging time a little more creative.”

Behr said she is determined not to let her cancer define her, and getting her bald head hennaed is one aspect along the journey that she is able to take into her own hands when so much else is out of her control.

“I’m an artist and jewelry maker using beads as my medium, and I love live music, dancing, being social and around my friends,” Behr said. “I am more than cancer. I am a person whose life has been completely turned upside down and I’m doing everything I can to stay myself through this process.”

Roberge said she is happy to provide this gift to those going through cancer treatments, including Behr and others who have been on the receiving end of her artistry.

The end result of Mandy Roberge’s ornate and intricate henna handiwork on Michelle Behr’s head.

“Sometimes women tell me that it’s the first time in months they have received a noninvasive loving touch from a stranger,” Roberge said. “Sometimes women just need to talk and be listened to, sometimes they need a distraction, and sometimes they need to cry, which I’m always up for. I never mind a good cry. Just so they know, I’ll be crying too.”