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Community Corner

Bald is Beautiful for Kenilworth Woman

The Holy Cross sophomore shaved her head to raise awareness of pediatric cancer.

Kenilworth native Marielle McKenna is an active fundraiser for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization that funds pediatric cancer research grants. Recently, she decided she wanted to do something more for children with cancer.   

“A friend of mine shaved her head for St. Baldrick’s foundation and I thought she was crazy," McKenna said. "I thought donating her hair was going far enough and shaving was an unnecessary extreme. I thought I could never do something like that. Then after reflecting on it for a while and seeing how happy my friend was, I asked myself why couldn’t I do something like that? I went online to the Web site and signed up as a shavee.”  

Over winter break McKenna and three friends made an appointment at her local hair salon.

“I came to understand why shaving is a very necessary extreme: to stand in solidarity with kids with cancer,” she said. “It was also important to encourage people to begin questioning why hair is so celebrated in our culture and to challenge them to disengage from that way of thinking. Baldness is not something to be feared because it is different. There is beauty in being bald, in being strong, and in being a fighter.”  

McKenna is a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2014 and is also trying to raise awareness about pediatric cancer on campus.

“With long hair being the norm for girls at Holy Cross, I felt that the 'Bald is Beautiful' cause would spur the desired conversation of what defines femininity, yet I did not want to return from winter break with a shaved head and be welcomed back with whispers and stares.”  

In the weeks before winter break, McKenna along with students from HC for a Cure and Student Health Awareness Peer Educators sold gold bandannas, the color of the pediatric cancer ribbon, to educate students and raise awareness. They decorated the gold bandannas with phases like “Bald is beautiful,” “St. Baldrick’s 2011,” “Be bald, be brave,” and more, and everyone wore them for a day to present a unified front.

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“The bandannas were wildly popular and we sold out, raising more than $300, all of which HC for a Cure generously donated to my St. Baldrick’s fundraising Web page,” said McKenna, who raised more than $3,000 for the foundation by shaving her head. 

During her time at Holy Cross, McKenna met class of 2012 student Lenore Montanaro, a three-time cancer survivor and above-the-knee amputee. Lenore’s brother, John, passed away in April of 2011 from leukemia at age 19.

“I chose to honor both Lenore and John with shaving, which made it much more personal and meaningful,” McKenna said.  

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McKenna said she learned a lot from the experience. 

“I know that I am incredibly lucky that I am able to shave my head voluntarily and for a worthwhile cause," she said. "I am not sick, but I am able to help those who are and understand a little of what it’s like to stand in their shoes.” 

At Holy Cross, McKenna is a member of Pax Christi and Women’s Forum, a communion minister and a volunteer at the Nativity School in Worcester, where she teaches students American Sign Language in an after-school program. 

A Spanish major who has taken four semesters of ASL, she is interested in pursuing a career in languages and communication.

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