Dad, pals bid 'baby' beards bye-bye
Preemie's release prompts shaves
Jason Sucharski never had a full beard before.
Neither had his brother Chris or his best friend Paul Jorgensen.
But when Jason's son, Chase Walker Sucharski, was born prematurely on July 24 at Sisters Hospital — weighing 1 pound, 7 ounces — the trio decided they would not shave until Chase came home.
On Saturday, the beards came off as Chase prepared to come home todaySunday from the hospital.
"It was really hard," said Chase's mother, Kelly, 27, of her infant's days at the hospital. "We just kept telling ourselves he was in the best possible place he could be."
Jason Sucharski, a 31-year-old teacher at Erie I BOCES, got the beard idea the day after his son was born. He was visiting the baby and noticed he had a blond beard. Actually, it was lanugo — fine white hair that covers a fetus' body and face.
Premature babies often are born with lanugo, explained Maureen Buckley, Chase's primary nurse. And as they get to full term, they lose it.
"I had heard of lanugo from the baby books," Jason Sucharski said. "I knew babies grew out of it by the time they're born. In his case, he didn't. So, I said, if he's going to have a beard, I'm going to have a beard."
A little time later, Chris Sucharski and Jorgensen came to the hospital to visit baby Chase, and Jason Sucharski told them about the idea. The two decided on their own to follow suit.
"A week later, they had some scruff, and they told me they were going to join me," Jason said. "It felt great.
Chris Sucharski, 27, lives in Newfane and works for Bison Bag in Lockport. He never had more than a quarter inch of facial hair in his life. In fact, he did not think he could grow a full beard.
The extra facial hair was not a problem at work, but many of his co-workers harassed him mercilessly.
"It was funny, at first. I got called every bearded celebrity ever, and a terrorist," he said. "Grizzly Adams was the most famous one."
The joking got old, though.
"Some days, I just didn't feel like hearing it," he said.
Jorgensen put his new growth to good use by dressing up for Halloween as Paul Bunyan.
A teacher's aide who works with elementary school children, the 32-year-old Buffalo man has been friends with Jason Sucharski since they attended South Park High School.
"My only thought was I could pitch in and join them and help support Chase," Jorgensen said.
Chase is scheduled to go home today a few days before his original Nov. 8 due date, said his mother, a teacher at Transit Middle School. It has been a tough road getting to this point, she added.
His lungs were "extremely" underdeveloped. He had to undergo heart surgery, which helped improve his lungs. And he is going home on oxygen.
"He had to be a fighter to go through what he did," Kelly Sucharski said of the Akron couple's first-born child. "He looks so much better than when he was born."
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