Mom shaves toddler's head: 'We made a decision cancer wouldn't take his hair'

A mom who made the decision to shave her toddler's head as he undergoes chemotherapy for cancer treatment shared her powerful photos to Facebook.

And though it was a difficult process, Nichole Brooks took great comfort in what happened when her 2.5-year-old son Wyatt looked in the mirror and saw himself hairless for the first time.

Wyatt, who communicates primarily though sign language, signed the word, "Beautiful."

"We knew from the beginning we would shave Wyatt's hair before chemo took it away," Brooks told "Good Morning America." The doctors told us hair loss usually begins by week two. On day six of treatment I found small amounts of hair on his pillow. I knew it was time."

On June 2, the Brooks family -- Nichole, her husband Colin, their two daughters and Wyatt were at the beach. When they arrived home that day, Brooks said she "noticed Wyatt had a full-body rash, random and unexplainable bruises and his eyes were very bloodshot."

After a series of tests in the emergency room that day, leukemia was the diagnosis. Wyatt is now being treated at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

It was last week that Wyatt had his haircut. Brooks arranged for a nurse to do the cut in his room.

"Wyatt sat on my lap and we were in a sheet to catch the hair as it fell," she said. "He has never liked haircuts and this was no exception. I cuddled and kissed his cheeks. We both cried but as soon as the clippers were turned off he looked up at me and smiled."

It was then that Wyatt looked in the mirror and told his mother he was "beautiful." It's a word, his mom said, that he often uses to describe himself and others.

Daily lab tests show the chemo is "doing it's job," Brooks said. But as a result, the toddler has lost his ability to walk and stand because of pain and muscle weakness.

Still, his mom called the prognosis "promising." Children with Down syndrome, which Wyatt has, tend to respond very well to chemotherapy, his mom said.

"Looking too far ahead is overwhelming and scary so we choose to soak up every hug, every kiss and every cuddle while supporting him through each test, medication and therapy."

The decision to shave Wyatt's head gave the family power in a situation where there is very little.

"For us, shaving his head meant we had control over something that would inevitably happen on its own. We decided cancer would not take his hair away, instead we would shave it as an act of courage and bravery. The baldness is now part of his armor. He is a warrior ready for battle."