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Haircut hospital call

MADISON (WKOW) -- Kathy Disantis loved to call her Italian husband "Vinny."  His real name is Bob, but when you're in love, sometimes you do silly things. 

In this week's People Making a Difference, Joe LaBarbera has the story of Kathy, her husband, and a barber named Steve.

Steve Nelson is much more than just a guy who cuts hair.  He owns Duwayne's salon on Sherman Avenue and is an all-out good-hearted likeable, sincere kind of guy.

He's typically got someone in his chair and a smile on his face.

Bob Disantis needed a haircut during a 62-day hospital stay, and nobody was willing to help him out -- until Steve Nelson stepped up and made a house call.

Kathy has been grateful ever since. Her husband Bob was a proud Italian guy who wanted a haircut in the worst way. The two couldn't find anyone to visit him in the hospital to get it done. Until they called Steve.

"He said name the time," Kathy Disantis says.  "And there he was. There he was. I mean it was like, I cannot explain to you what it was like for my husband all the while he was having his haircut. His little eyes ere just twinkling because he was like, 'I'm looking fine.'"

"I knew that it made a difference to him," Steve Nelson says.  "He uh, you could just tell. You know. When you cut somebody's hair they just feel better and that was very important to him."

Being a good guy is very important to Steve.  He says his father used to cut hair for shutins, and he knows it's the right thing to do.

"He instilled in us, that, you know, you just help out," Steve says. "Somebody needs help, you do it."

So Steve Nelson did the right thing and helped Kathy Disantis and her husband Bob, by coming to the hospital and giving Bob the haircut he needed to feel that much better about himself.

Steve's good deed might be the end of the story, but there is no happy ending here. Bob Disantis died six days after his hair cut.

Kathy Disantis knows that something as simple as a haircut in the hospital made a difference in her husband's life.

"t was a very peacful thing to have done for him, because when he left for the next journey, he looked like the beautiful italian man he was," Kathy says.

Thanks to Seve Nelson, who is so much more than just some guy who cuts hair.