From the archives: Bald and beautiful for a cause

This article was originally published in Newsday on March 8, 2008

Mara Nolan grinned as she watched her long brown hair sheared, snipped and, finally, shaved.

"It feels good," said Mara, 8, of Northport. "It feels like I'm special."

Mara was among more than 200 people who converged on the Northport-East Northport school district Friday night to celebrate St. Baldrick's Day, when participants raise money for children's cancer research by shaving their heads in solidarity with cancer patients.

The ongoing holiday - a combination of St. Patrick's Day and "bald" - was born in 1999 when three friends, two from Long Island, decided to give back by staging a cancer benefit, said co-founder Tim Kenny, 47, of Northport.

Since then, more than 46,000 people around the world have shaved their heads, raising more than $38 million for childhood cancer research, according to the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Christine Apollo, 43, of East Northport, an event co-organizer, said she was inspired to join the cause after her daughter's leukemia diagnosis.

Apollo's daughter, Nicole, was 6 when she found out she had leukemia in 2000. The next year, Nicole underwent chemotherapy, losing her hair in the process. She's been in remission ever since.

"I like that it helps little kids. It makes them feel normal with all the other kids walking around with their heads shaved," said Brian Kenny, 12, Tim Kenny's son, who was getting his shaggy blond hair shaved for at least the fourth time.

First-time shaver George Doll, Northport's mayor, will be among the shavers at Napper Tandy's Irish Pub Saturday night. "I've always supported it," he said. "I don't think that any little kid should suffer."

The village's two events are among the 10 biggest in the country this year, a foundation spokeswoman said.

Other St. Baldrick's Day events this weekend are in Miller Place, Smithtown, Island Park, Rocky Point, Islip and Massapequa Park.

Frank Cruthers, 42, of Amityville, said he started shaving his head for St. Baldrick's five years ago and is organizing an event for the second time.

The event, at Johnny McGorey's pub in Massapequa Park, is open to the public, Cruthers said, with one stipulation.

"It's not a free haircut," he said. "We ask if you're going to get your head shaved that you raise money for the cure."