Texas Nail Salon Owner Brings Services Straight To Hospital Patient's Bedside And Inspires Others

A Texas nail salon owner’s act of kindness is inspiring others.  

John Dawkins owns Absolute Nails in Lubbock,  Texas.

Dawkins and his wife Tammy recently fulfilled a wish of Norma Hernandez, a cancer patient fighting for her life who wanted to have her nails done. Dawkins said his heart sank when he heard Hernandez’s request had been turned down by her own nail salon and several others.  

After work, Dawkins and his wife Tammy went to the hospital and treated Hernandez to a manicure and pedicure in her hospital bed.  

  Dawkins said Hernandez’s kindness took him by surprise.

“She stole our hearts,” Dawkins told KCBD, “Knowing that her life only has a number of days, and she’s worrying about everybody else.” 

Dawkins relates to what Hernandez and her family are going through since he lost his own mother to cancer when he was only 20 years old. Before they left, Dawkins said he and Tammy prayed with Hernandez.  

The salon owner told Southern Living that after a news report about him giving a pedicure and manicure to a woman battling cancer in the hospital hit the airwaves, he received a message and a check from a woman in Virginia.  

Dawkins, unsure what the check was for, called the number on the check and spoke to Rebecca, who told him she’d been “crying for hours” after hearing about what he did.  

Rebecca, the woman who heard Dawkins’ story and sent him a check, said the amount of $69.30 was in honor of the Bible verse Psalm 69:30, which says, “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving." 

Dawkins, touched by Rebecca’s gesture, said he plans to frame the check to remind him of the verse and its meaning: “Givers are more glorious than receivers.” 

He also hopes his story encourages others to commit random acts of kindness.   

“Very small acts can make a world of difference,” Dawkins told KCBD.

We couldn't agree more.