Real friendship is undoubtedly the best gift in the world, but it can be hard to find and to keep. A group of girlfriends left some online commenters in tears with their heartwarming and selfless gesture toward their friend who had been terminally ill.
A video shared Sunday on TikTok by one of the best friends, under the username Copperforkcakes, shows the girlfriends shaving each other's heads bald in solidarity with their best friend, who was diagnosed with cancer and lost her hair because of chemotherapy.
About a year later, according to the footage, their best friend is now cancer-free. The friends are now experts on short hairdos, after experimenting with styles for their growing hair for a whole year.
@copperforkcakes Define “friendship”
♬ Meet Me At Our Spot - Live - THE ANXIETY & WILLOW & Tyler Cole
In 2022, an estimated 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed, with 609,360 cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. That means over 1,670 deaths a day in the United States.
The most common type of cancer is breast cancer, with 290,560 new cases expected in the United States in 2022. Of those, 287,850 will affect women and only 2,710 men, and over 43,250 women and 530 men will die from the disease.
The next most common cancers are prostate cancer and lung cancer. The estimated numbers of new cases of colon cancer and rectal cancer in 2022 are 106,180 and 44,850, respectively, for a total of 151,030 new cases of colorectal cancer.
The TikTok video, which comes with a caption that says "Define friendship," has so far received over 1.8 million views and 298,500 likes. Some commenters said they wished they had friends like those in the clip.
One user, Ashleighs Artistry, wrote: "Incredible." And Heyitsmeeeeb said: "Omgggggggg this gave me tingles what BEAUTIFUL people you all are."
Another user, Liz Arendtsz, wrote: "What a beautiful bunch of queens!!!!" And Makayla said: "As a female, we know that this would [have] been so hard to do with their hair! What amazing women."
Janebatchelor857 said: "That is the ultimate friendship group! Wonderful!" And Roxana Roxy758 wrote: "The [most real] definition of FRIENDSHIP & SISTERHOOD." Quixotic added: "Girls can only dream of such a wonderful bunch of friends."
Another user, Daniela Leigh, said: "I'm actually crying your guys have the most precious souls."
And Rotem Toledo wrote: "This is the [most] amazing thing you could have ever done for her. I'm crying because having that kind of friendship is one in a million."
Newsweek reached out to Copperforkcakes for comment and could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have heartwarming videos or pictures you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Maria Azzurra Volpe is a Newsweek Lifestyle Reporter based in London. Her focus is reporting on lifestyle and trends-related stories, ... Read more
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