N.J. Cop, Ex-Marine Shaves Head Before Breast Cancer Can Claim Her Hair

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Gina Sandwith’s LinkedIn page reads like a how-to manual for a lifesaver. She’s served as a satellite operator for the U.S. Marines, an EMT for the Monmouth Ocean Hospital Service Corporation, a lifeguard with Hudson Pool Management, and most recently, as a law enforcement officer in the Jersey City Police Department.

But now Sandwith has embarked on what may be her most courageous effort to date: a battle with breast cancer.

It’s a fight that the Middlesex County College alum has taken on with her characteristic gusto. According to a GoFundMe campaign launched in her name, Sandwith decided to beat cancer to the punch and shave her head before a series of chemo treatments caused her hair to fall out.

Her ongoing display of courage inspired a wave of her law enforcement peers to hold a head shaving/fundraising event of their own on Sunday as a show of solidarity.

“Let’s all come together and show Gina she’s not alone in this fight,” a flyer from the Jersey City Police Department and Port Authority stated. “She’s a sister in blue… when one of us goes running into the fray, we all do.”

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help Sandwith cover her excess medical expenses. As of March 13, the fundraiser has garnered more than $26,000. See the online campaign or make a donation here.

According to the GoFundMe page, Sandwith served a combat tour and multiple deployments in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines. She later followed in her father and brothers’ footsteps when she joined the Jersey City Police Department, even taking up her father’s badge number, 2251.

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Photo: GoFundMe