Shaved head cancer fundraiser a family affair
Small gesture of support for a sister turns into giant community fundraiser
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 8, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Cancer affects everyone, so those who come together to express support for a loved one undergoing treatment need not be alone on their journey.
Cheryl Wourms has her head shaved by barber Joe Kalnins of Ragged Ass Barbershop on Saturday afternoon at Sam's Monkey Tree Pub. She shed her locks as a fundraiser for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation. The approximately $6,000 she raised – inspired by her sister in Saskatchewan who has breast cancer – will be used to purchase items to comfort cancer patients being treated in Yellowknife. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo |
Cheryl Wourms was reminded of that this past weekend after she made good on a pledge to shave her head to raise money for Stanton Territorial Hospital's cancer unit. She organized the spectacle as a surprise to show solidarity with a younger sister who began radiation therapy in Saskatchewan after being diagnosed with breast cancer in June.
Wourms got a surprise of her own on the weekend when she realized how much she had managed to collect from her Northern friends, colleagues and neighbours.
By the time Joe Kalnins of Ragged Ass Barbershop made the first pass of his electric razor across Wourms' scalp at Sam's Monkey Tree Pub this past Saturday afternoon, she had raised more than $6,240 for Stanton, and that total is growing faster than her stubble.
The hair-shearing was attended by about 20 of Wourms' supporters, who applauded as shocks of her long brown hair cascaded onto the club's dance floor.
Wourms' husband Des, their son Adam and daughters Nicole and Brittany were in the front of the cheering section.
"She raised a lot of money. Her sister will be proud of her," said Des shortly after his wife became as bald as he has been for much of their marriage.
Wourms said she was proud of her community.
"I am totally surprised by the amount of support from people who do not even know my sister or any of my (extended) family. I guess people have been touched by cancer with a loved one and just wanted to show their support," she said.
Wourms had set herself a fundraising goal of $1,000 early last month, which she hoped to donate to the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation to invest in comforts for NWT cancer patients.
"You could tell it was going to go higher than that," said Tom Hoefer, Wourms' boss at the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines and a 26-year cancer survivor. "People stepped up to the plate."
By Sept. 17, she had raised $3,000, as more and more individuals and some companies pitched in.
"She set a new target of $5,000 and she blew that out of the water, as well," said Rebecca Alty, Stanton foundation's executive director. "She was overwhelmed by the response from the community. It meant a lot to her."
Wourms' long-time friend Lynda Comerford, whose 91-year-old mother has beat cancer four times, said she gets misty-eyed when she thinks of how the family came together in their expression of support across provincial, territorial and even international borders.
"I'm really proud of her," she said.
Wourms launched her Stanton campaign just as three of her other siblings kicked off their own separate head-shaving fundraisers in British Columbia and Saskatchewan to collect money for their sister's medical travel expenses and in support of the hospital foundation in Humbolt, Sask. Another sister in Australia supported Wourms' campaign.
"All of us bought into it," said Wourms, adding they all kept their fundraising projects hush-hush from their sister.
They revealed their bald crowns to her at the same time this past Sunday, some in person in Marensville, Sask., and Wourms, a brother on the West Coast and the sister in Australia participating via Skype.
"The look on her face was truly amazing," said Wourms. "She joked and said that she had more hair than we all did."
The online conversation went on for about two hours, said Wourms.
"There were many tears shed by a lot of us," she added.
Wourms' fundraiser represents the first head-shaving sponsorship campaign staged for Stanton by an individual in more than three years, said Alty.
Alty and Wourms are scheduled to meet later this month to discuss how the money will be spent. A few more donations are still in the mail, said Wourms.
In the meantime, donations are still being collected for Wourms' campaign through the foundation, said Alty.
