The day was finally here for Marea Kotila’s 18th birthday wish to come true: She would get her first haircut.

On Friday at the Kotilas’ home north of Glacier Park International Airport, Yadita Torres of Whitefish draped a beautician’s cape over Marea, who took center stage on a seat in front of her birthday guests gathered around a dining room table.

When the scissors came out, so did the cameras.

“I can’t watch,” said Marea’s father, Todd Kotila.

In one swoop, Torres sliced through Marea’s hair, which was held back in a ponytail, then held up the severed strands.

“Wow. Okee dokee,” Marea said, glancing at the cut ponytail.

Her birthday guests gasped. The hair was 29 inches long and weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces.

The bond with her father is the reason she waited 18 years to cut her hair, which had only been trimmed up to this point.

“I didn’t realize it — she had really wanted short hair for years, but she knew that I loved long brown hair so she kept it long for her dad,” Todd Kotila said.

Todd asked his daughters — Marea and 19-year-old Amanda — to wait until they were at least 18 to cut it.

Amanda, a student at Montana State University, had just had two 12-inch cuttings of her hair before school started to meet the hair code for Air Force ROTC. Unlike her sister, Amanda was less enthusiastic about the change.

The silver lining was that both sisters decided to donate their hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths works with the American Cancer Society to provide free wigs to cancer patients.

After they made the decision to donate their hair, the sisters were shocked to learn their father had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer in October.

Todd, 46, said the diagnosis is rare for his age but curable.

Although he won’t lose his hair during treatment, the opportunity to help cancer patients hit home.

“It started out really tough when we didn’t know anything really. A lot of people in our community have blessed us immensely, especially God, through our church and through my dad’s school,” Marea said.

Another blow to the family was that Todd didn’t have health insurance, which is one reason why he waited to get a colonoscopy until symptoms he had brushed off worsened.

Todd began the first phase of radiation and chemotherapy right away. Medical bills soared. From October through December he had racked up more than $100,000.

“Once you get a diagnosis of cancer, you can’t get life insurance. you can’t get health insurance. The only option I had was Obamacare [the Affordable Care Act]. It came at a time that probably saved my life,” Kotila said, although he added that he isn’t in favor of taxpayers’ money funding his health care.

The next steps will be to cut out a rectal tumor and a final round of chemotherapy.

Todd was in good spirits at his daughter’s birthday party and didn’t seem to have lost much of his usual vigor. Todd said he expects to be “back in the saddle” in a couple of months at Whitefish Christian School, where he is headmaster.

“I’m doing well today because the radiation ceased in December, but it’s like cooking meat — the barbecue continues for a couple of weeks and then it plateaus and then it starts letting down,” Kotila said. “Only in the last 10 days I’ve been coming off serious pain medication.”

When asked what has gotten him through the ordeal, he said, “Joie de vivre — love of life — my children, the community support, people who have come out of the woodwork to help.”

He said parents of students at Whitefish Christian Academy have helped him tremendously with basic daily tasks such as plowing the driveway or changing the salt in his water softener.

As each wisp of hair fell to the ground in a halo around Marea’s feet, the chatter among her birthday guests got louder.

“Oh you look so cute,” Romina Boyle, 23, of Whitefish gushed. “[It] makes me want to get my hair cut.”

After the haircut was finished, Marea bounded to the bathroom mirror to look at her new asymmetrical bob. Coming back out, her face was beaming. She ran her fingers through her new haircut and smiled before joining her friends and family at the table.

“So many people were like, ‘Why don’t you just cut your hair and throw it out the window?’” Marea said about the wait. “My dad has cancer and it’s my way of telling my dad I love him when so many kids don’t nowadays, so I just kept it looking nice and now I’ve fulfilled my commitment.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].