Volunteers go bald for childhood cancer research

RIO RANCHO — Gideon Cook took a few years to work up the courage to shave his head, but by the time it happened at the Rio Rancho Events Center on Sunday, the smile on the 11-year-old’s face seemed to suggest he had no regrets.

Cook got his head shaved during “New Mexico Firefighters & Friends,” an event organized by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a California-based nonprofit that has its own pediatric cancer team and provides grants to cancer researchers. By Sunday afternoon, over $30,000 had been raised toward a $50,000 goal, according to the event’s website. The funds, officials said, will go towards the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and its grantee, University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital.

Event coordinator Roger Tannen said anyone who donates at least $50 qualified for a head shave. The hair could get made into a wig for a child with cancer if the locks are at least 12 inches long.

Whether volunteers’ hair was made into a wig or simply swept into the trash, Tannen said the important part of the event was giving kids with cancer hope.

“That hope comes from the support of communities — it’s not just the event raising money, it’s the community coming together in solidarity and recognizing kids’ cancer exists and it’s not to be ignored, and it’s best that we bring it to the forefront,” said Tannen, a retired deputy chief with the Bernalillo County Fire Department and nurse with UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center.

Rio Rancho resident Jose Padilla, who knew a neighbor who died of cancer last July 4, agreed.

“Anytime you hear about cancer for kids, they think their life is over — but there’s still hope they can find a cure,” Padilla said. 

He noted that Sunday was not his first time getting his locks shaved in the name of a cancer cure.

“Life is more important than hair,” Padilla said. “Finding a cure for cancer, that’s more important.”

According to St. Baldrick’s, cancer is the deadliest disease among children, and 1 in 263 of them in the U.S. will get it before they are 20 years old. “Worldwide, a child is diagnosed (with cancer) every two minutes,” the foundation’s website stated.

There are a dozen types of childhood cancers, with acute lymphoblastic leukemia — a cancer of blood and bone marrow — being the most common, according to St. Baldrick’s. Another type of cancer, neuroblastoma, is also common among children and recently afflicted Lexi Hargrave, a kindergartner at WD Carroll Elementary School.

Even as the five-year survival rate for children with cancer is increasing, 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer will not survive, according to St. Baldrick’s website.

Sunday’s event wasn’t all about heart-wrenching statistics; it was about community. As local music and dance groups performed, three volunteers got their heads shaved at a time to the delight of onlookers as Logan Rader and Monica Wicke, co-hosts of New Mexico Living, served as masters of ceremony.

“Every donation matters, guys — every single penny,” Rader said before a massive cash donation was given for a beard shave.

Rader was impressed with Cook’s willingness to have his head shaved and asked him what it is like being a fifth-grader. 

Cook, who received a warm embrace from his parents once the deed was done, said in an interview he originally worried what his peers might think if he arrived at school bald. But soon, he realized, “it doesn’t matter what kids say; it matters what I did.”

His mother, Ida Cook, told her son she was proud of him. In an interview, she said Cook and other children may not understand childhood cancer at first, but when they do, they can “lead the way and make a change in this world.”

“That’s what I think our son is doing,”  Ida Cook said.