Kali's hair loss

This week... where do I start. Glitches, misrepresentation, forgotten promises and added hoops to jump through and the list goes on. Nicki and I can't keep up. If you are looking for us at the event, we will be the ones lying in the fetal position by the Dilly bars, melted chocolate on our faces and in our hair....

I suppose it's normal to feel the squeeze one week before an event of this magnitude.

And perhaps, it's normal for all H- E double hockey sticks to break loose one week before.

Thats been my experience anyways....

I'm just not going to get into it.

I'd rather talk about Kali. After all she is what has inspired this insanity and I'll be sure to thank her again for that.

Back in 2002, Oct 31 - I was Halloween shopping for a witch hat (with witch hair). Found one and placed it on Kali's head to model as I pushed her around in the cart.

Shortly after, I noticed I had selected a defective wig so exchanged it for another. Moments later, that one too was noticed to be falling apart.

As I removed the hat from Kalis head, a feeling of dread filled me. Hit me square in the chest like I had swallowed a brick. The wig was intact. It was her hair that was letting go from the root in chunks.

It was difficult to contain my state of panic for her sake, I just wanted to cry. I didn't want her to know. I remembered what this did to her self esteem the first time. She withdrew so much that she perceived every smile as a form of ridicule. She could not be in the vicinity of a mirror.

Kali had most beautiful blond locks the first time they fell. Eventually they grew back to the same length as when she first lost them.

I called Gord, my hands shaking as I tried to dial and told him she was loosing her hair again.

It was hard to handle this hairloss because we were so unprepared. Just for clarification, hairloss precedes the ulcers, the bone pain, mouth sores, vomiting, etc. It really is more about hair. This just left her broken.

Kali was on the tail end of her treatment, we did not expect it to go out with a bang. Our daughter was very sick for 2 months to follow. Her Christmas that year was so painful that there was no way to comfort her. We literally wore out our rocking chair and our knees in desperate attempts to take the edge off of her pain. That memory (among many others) is burned in forever. The only good news was that her hair only dropped out around her crown and could be mostly hidden if she left it down. We thanked God for that.

This hair loss gave Gord an idea. I have to give him credit, he was always good at taking a bad situation and turning it into a positive. This became an immediate response to the preparation of the first St.Valentine's Day Hair Massacre. The next day Gord announced the date (Feb 14th) and this incredible name he chose for his event. It was to be held at Canada post on 149 st.

I proudly supported this, but had no intention of shaving .... at the time. I was chicken.

So, it was all his fault (hence the lying in the fetal position...).

I have shaved 4 times and glad I did. Gord had shaved 7, soon to be 8. Kyrsti 5 times, Kali and FRED twice. I may have officially retired from shaving because as I have said in earlier posts, my daughter Meagan now owns my hair (it's a stylist thing....), and Kali has asked me to keep it, although she is working on a sweet hair donation for next year. That will be one prize wig I would imagine.

We know a growing number of children (and adults) that were once traumatized by the loss of their locks and found their way to the clippers. THAT is brave, and absolutely breathtaking. Every year you will see some of them in our videos on our website. They are not singled out because it's important for them to feel normal again, but they are there.

Kali, thank you for sharing your journey with us. To all survivors, you are our inspiration. God Bless you all.

Kali's letter - see last post

Hi, I’m Kali MacDonald and I’m a leukemia survivor. I was diagnosed when I was 2, but it ended when I was 5. I lost my hair 3 times in the process, but I shaved my head when I was 8 and 9 years old. Now I’m growing my hair out so I can donate it. My family has been running this event in my honor since I was 3 years old. It’s a great honor to be the inspiration of an event with such a high profile. Because of the Stollery, I am here delivering this speech. So I thank the Stollery so much for that. And Make A Wish gave me a reason to fight harder by granting me a wish. We got to go to Disney world and pet Shamu. That was magic for my family and I. I’m very proud of my family, too. My dad for starting the Hair Massacure and pinking a lot (this will be his 6^th year pinking.This will be his 8^th year shaving), my mom for every thing she does for me, running the Hair Massacure, for daring my dad to go pink, and for shaving 4 times, and my older sisters for always being there for me and supporting and heling with the H.M . Kyrsti was the first girl to go pink, she shaved 5 times, and is now our youth volunteer coordinator. Meagan has been pinking a lot of heads because she’s a stylist, and Mandy keeps Fred pink because she’s a groomer. I would also like to thank every one who supports us, donates to us, volunteers or even helps us. I’d like to make a special thank you to the Oilers for helping, supporting, and even participating in the Hair Massacure. We never thought we would have the Edmonton Oilers participating because when we started, we only had 40 guys participating and we held it at Canada Post. So its pretty amazing to see how far we’ve come. Thank you so much. We couldn’t do this without you.

Patrick O'Sullivan - Oilers support HM

A little birdie told me that St. Patrick went pink for a day. I owe a lot of this to my friend Hilary.

Yesterday we pinked Edmonton Oiler Patrick O'Sullivan. Had the honour of slappin the bleach and Kali Pink on him while using the opportunity to familiarize him with our crazy event. Now... when I say slappin - I'm not kidding. There was 35 minutes to get this man bleached, rinsed and pinked before the press conference. Yikes! I figured at the speed that brush was going that someone (or someone's lense) was going to be in proximity to a flying splotch... I was lucky. Especially not Nicki's lens....

Patrick was very nice, quite humble and I think moved by our event.

I gotta admit, we have dreamt about Oiler involvement for several years now. Last year Ethan Moreau and Ales Hemsky shaved, now we have a pink Patrick!!! How sweet is that!

We had 3 cancer kids there that day - Tory, Dusty, and Kali. Both Kali and Tory delivered moving speeches that made lumps in throats and water in eyes.

I gave these 2 girls a few days to prepare a speech for this day, and honestly did not expect what they each delivered. Kali in particular - the child of one word sentences (when speaking with media) pulled this off. I have included this in the next blog. I know she's gonna kill me for posting this, but I am feeling mighty proud. Dr. Basch (our researcher) fell victim to my brush, as he did last year at the CISN studio (pinking with Mike). I adore this man, not only because of his outstanding personality, but for his efforts in the lab (his lab) that Hair Massacure funds. We received our 3rd invite to tour the lab again in the near future. I can't wait to show Nicki!! Even with my medical background this stuff is so over my head. It's no question they are doing great work out there.

Nicki, of course handled all of the set up so that I was free to nab Tory from school and take her out for lunch on her birthday before the media stuff. (Did I mention she is wonderful and I have finally stopped firing her).

We decided to enjoy some fine dining at Rotton Ronnies at Namoa (kidding Jaime....). Actually - I do enjoy McD's. Can't beat an Angus burger!! It was especially neat seeing the 2 entire walls covered with Kali Bears. Kali still to humble to get any of this - whether it be her face in the pepers, radio or tube it's just everyday life for her. As for me - another bottle of wine and a much needed acupuncture treatment just to get my head around the action within this event.

I struggle sometimes with these little miraculous progressions. It just seems like a lot to process. Who would have thought.....

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Edmonton+Oilers+centre+Patrick+Sullivan+hair+dyed+pink+Tammy+MacDonald+founder+Hair+Massacure+Eveline+Charles+Academy+City+Centre+Mall+Tuesday+Sullivan+will+have+hair+shaved+support+annual+fundraising+event/2516708/story.html

http://lowonoil.com/2010-articles/february/st-valentines-day-hair-massacure-charity-for-cancer.html

Volunteers

Sunday was our volunteer orientation at Mayfield Elementary. I am getting behind in my blog here so bear with me...

It was a little different this year than what I am accustomed to. Typically we have a packed house and utter chaos.... fun, but yes chaos! This year was controlled and quiet - not quite our style so next year I'm gonna have to stir up some action..... maybe bring a pole..... and a couple of waxy dancers.... oh and definitely the bear!! I made another crank call to 780-444-9467 (she was just a few feet away at the time) just to give myself a cheap thrill. This time I was a Russian lady who wanted to book a shave time for her legs.

Nadine and I developed a volunteer binder a few years ago to describe in full detail each position involved with the Massacure. This took a summer to create. Each year I update this manual, adding positions, tweeking and selecting appropriate captains to run these positions. I remind each position to be nice cause thats how we role.

Have I mentioned how awesome our captains are? All of our volunteers are awesome (well.. with the exception of 1 or 2 every year that make Tammy remember why she is disciplined in karate...). These captains are my peeps and I love em!

Today I gotta mention Kyrsti's peeps moms. Much like my McDonald's peeps, this group of ladies was gifted to me. Kyrsti's friends have grown up together since grade 1. Years ago the moms united, made our way into each others lives and we have all

have become good friends. Shauna, Melynda, Diana, Marina got roped in 2006 out of shear pity for Gord and I who were very short on manpower for our 2006 event. Don't think staying for the entire 24 hours (plus set up and tear down) was part of their plan. Back then we did a 2 day event. I still think about that and wonder how we did this for 3 years. They were right there with us, as well as a few very faithful volunteers that stayed, God bless 'em.

Nicki and her parents were of that pack, Roni, Pat, Ollie, Tina, Joelle, Nadine, Weazie, my mom (Colleen - Nana's peeps), Dusty (my adopted son) and our long time stylists Stacey, 2 Shaunas, Sam, Carrie, Mel, (and now Genevieve).

Our security is back again too (my karate click) - amazing! There are more, forgive me if I have let a great one slip my list. Brain is mush..

Back to the captains. How many times can I mention that they are amazing? Never enough. Some of them do a lot prior to, and I am so appreciative of this as I know that they know their area very well, and take pride in their involvement. It's like a piece of the Massacure belongs to them and that makes it a collective and community event.

Thank you to all of my captains, my peeps who hold the Massacure close to their hearts. Know how much your involvement is appreciated.

Edmonton Rush Shave

Yesterday started with the last Kali Pink BBQ at Sobeys. They brought in the Olympic torch and more peeps came to help out to help. Tammy was far past exhaustion, (bordering on grumpy) so I decided to ditch and break my "coffee / sugar rule". Enduring the line up in the Timmies drive through seemed so worth it to enjoy a LARGE coffee - reallllly sweet, realllly creamy.

My 2 hour break served me well. By 4:00 we were hoofin it to Rexall for the RUSH game. Snagged Tory (our miracle brat) and used her cell phone to make another crank call to 780-444-9467 along the way.

Weazie and Nadine, Steven, Christie, Hannah Banana, Kali Bear and of course Nicki (who had scooped my girls earlier to help plaster Rexall with posters) were all geared up for another "what happens at RUSH stays at RUSH. Of course, it's the Bear thats the biggest concern (but not the only....). His behaviour hit a new level last night... security, handcuffs, I won't even go there. Pictures say a thousands words so I am gonna leverage my time. This is the link to our pictures on Hair Massacure Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=191972&id=660921997

I sure hope he behaves himself at the mall..... I know he will cause Weazie and Christie will be busy. Flat Christie is the one on the banner. She's trouble. Weazie is just plain 27-7 trouble. She too is flat Weazie (on another banner).

Gord took Tory and Kali to the media center and spoke about our 2 miracles while Nicki tried to keep the bear in line.

We met a very nice pink family, thats always so inspiring to see.

Genevieve and Sam from GV's came out with clippers for the final shave, they are wonderful to this event. We all took a swipe on a RUSH (except the bear - who was a little rough, he left gouges). These players are really are a lot of fun and have so much heart.

Someone I know has a huge crush on one of them... but I wont reveal who cause Nicki told me not to.....

McDonald's supports MacDonald's

I am dedicating my blog to one of our sponsors - McDonald's..... more importantly Jaime Caza.

Jaime is the community relations representative, and the very reason we have this level of support from 29 corporate restaurants.

I met Jaime in 2006 when I was looking for food to feed our volunteers for our Guinness Event at WEM.

Jaime was a "sponsor" for the first year... until she became friend. I typically like to get to know our sponsors on a personal level because there is a human side to this, not just money.

I liked Jaime and enjoyed a coffee here and there until coffees turned into breakfasts, which turned into birthday parties, special invites, exchange of personal info, and frequent check-ins by phone or facebook.

Last year Gord and I believed Jaime may qualify as a wish mom. Being the humble soul she is, she had difficulty getting her head around this idea - not to mention this is a slap in the face when you realize and have to say out loud that your child has a life threatening illness. Anyone that has ever met Jaime's daughter would never guess - she hides things as well as her mother. This child has some spunk and a keen sense of humor. I am proud of the fact that Jaime allowed her to be my wish child. The Kaza family was well taken care of by Make-A-Wish, and someone special spent some time in Atlantis with Joe Jonas. I believe she now refers to herself as "Mrs. Jonas".

The woman that gives so much has a difficult time receiving (as I said she is very humble...).

She is always thinking of others.

Not only has Jaime made it possible to feed my growing number of volunteers and events, but she made it possible for the restaurants to sell Kali Bears. This is huge! Last year 16,000 bears were sold for us - all profit. They are doing it again, with more enthusiasm than ever! Kali and I have met with the managers. Kali thanked them all for selling her. They are great people.

Jaime has shared her support from McDonalds, her ideas, her morale support , and her friends. This woman has great friends. I am privileged to be accepted into the pack, so her peeps have become my peeps. Like hangs with like, so it all works.

Let me just add that these guys know how to party! What a fun group of people!!

Christie hangs on a banner, so I see her often. I call her "Flat Christie". She goes to every event.

I hear from Christie daily. She is now an avid supporter of Tammy and Massacure. She also loves tuning me in, and not afraid to tell me how much she cares... or where to go.

Christie has in tow a Ginger - thats her sister. Another proud supporter.

I have more wonderful relationships with most of our "sponsors" that have become personal friends.

I truly feel blessed.

Neil M Ross / LOXX

Thursday we (Meagan - Kali Bear) and I were at Neil M Ross in St.ALbert for a presentation. This is a very excited elementary school. I would say there were at least 100 heads in the crowds lead by a passionate leader - Brett Arlinghouse. He is featured both on my van and in our Bald is Beautiful pics.

Kali Bear is always a huge hit at this school. Meagan eats this up like candy. We eventually have to send her to the back of the gym or she will cause so much distraction that the speaking and DVD presentation goes to waste. She is typically quiet, polite and subtle (out of bear)

During my little talk with the kids, I happened to mention that my daughter is a stylist and LOVES pinking kids. I mentioned the location of her salon and suggested that it was not too late..... I think the bear liked that cause he was jumping and waving at me from the back of the gym. After the presentation, the kids mauled the bear.

I watched this big pink blob get swallowed up by the masses and then he went down, but he managed to roll away.

Today (Friday) I saw Megs and she was smiling at me, but her jaw must have been sore cause she was smiling with her teeth clenched. Maybe its all the gum she's been chewing lately. Could see the sinew in the muscles in her cheeks, looked really chizzled like Rambo.

I thought it was wonderful for her career that she received a surge of kids like that wanting to pink asap. She loves to feel needed. Her other clients don't even mind having to re-book. Our tv pinking that suddenly switched days was not a problem either. In fact she was so happy about that, she went to the liquor store. Think she is celebrating.

I don't need to go there. Nicki does that for me. She wanted to be one step ahead of Gord. She says the wine is a treat, but I'm confused about that cause she said the treat was more for her....

We were pinking at Carrie's salon LOXX today. Well... Kyrsti and Megs pinked. Carrie told me to relax and just take pictures, and not to touch the sink. She said the 2 water stains on the ceiling remind her of me. FRED spent the morning there. Saw his first baby and wanted to roll against it. The kids that pinked loved having him there. He only burped once.

An elderly lady went full pink too - she was a gorgeous woman and looked stunning!

780-444-9467 was there too (Pat). We have known each other for the last 13 years, so we love hanging out. She still has her heart on.... the back of her head. Carrie put Pats daughter on the blow dryer, Kyrsti with the bleach. Forced child labour folks - its awesome. Pat and I are really into this. Our plan will be that her daughter will take the phone and schedule shave times, my daughters will divvy up my duties and Pat and I will drink beer.