Patrick O’Sullivan is feeling a bit more breeze as he skates down the ice these days. The Edmonton Oilers right winger spent Tuesday afternoon getting his hair bleached and dyed pink before having it all shaved off. The spectacle was a promotion for the Hair Massacure, a week and a half before the big finale at West Edmonton Mall’s Ice Palace.
“I’m happy to be here and lend my hand in support of this great charity,” he said, speaking at times seriously but occasionally getting a laugh from the assembled crowd. “I never thought that I’d have pink hair. It’s not really a colour that looks too flattering on me.”
The popular charity event, now in its eighth year, has already raised more than $3.6 million to support both the Stollery Children’s Hospital and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Every year hundreds of participants get involved by shaving their heads to show solidarity with kids dealing with cancer. The ‘pinking’ is optional but goes a long way to raise awareness in the community.
Organizer Tammy MacDonald was thrilled to have the support of a high-profile sports figure. She said that it reminded her of the very beginning when her daughter, Kali, was undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia. She said that there was a moment of pause when shopping for a Halloween costume.
“I was buying a wig. I had it on Kali’s head and had thought that the wig was defective. I returned it and picked up another one, put it on her head and that one was defective,” she recalled. “Then I realized that it wasn’t the wig.”
That prompted Gord MacDonald to start a head shave at his workplace.
“We thought that if our daughter is going bald again, then so are we,” she said.
The idea of the pink hair dye came later as a way of increasing visibility in the community. As Gord said, “A number of people have asked me [about the colour] when they see me running around like this,” referring to his fuchsia hairdo.
“In all of our events, almost half of the people shaving have been female. That amazes me. Thanks to Bruce Willis, it’s not a big deal to have a bald head any more. We had to come up with something different for men. I said, ‘Look, I should have to run around with pink hair for a couple of weeks.’ Tammy challenged me to go ahead with it. That first year we had 12 people and now it’s to the point where I’m pretty sure there’s a couple thousand people running around with pink hair.”
To learn more about the event or to make a contribution visit www.hairmassacure.com or call 780-431-4621.
