Supporters let their skulls shine for good cause

When you need people brave enough to shave their heads bald for a good cause, finding guys who run into burning buildings seems a good place to start.

Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg firefighters got the shears rolling at the St. Baldrick's Foundation head-shaving fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield in Schaumburg Friday.

But they were far from alone.

About 150 people, including about nine women, bared their scalps to show solidarity with kids with childhood cancer, as well as to raise nearly $150,000 to fight it.

One of the first people to go was Hoffman Estates Fire Capt. Thomas Mackie, who'd dyed his hair green in anticipation of losing it.

"I've had buzz cuts and crew cuts in the past, but this should be interesting -- being totally bald," Mackie said, just minutes before taking to one of eight chairs on a stage.

As a professional hair stylist abandoned all her training at subtlety, Mackie said he could feel the room growing noticeably cooler as first his hair and then his moustache disappeared in patches.

Whether by chance or design, the hotel ballroom was without mirrors, but a cell phone photo showed Mackie the results of the stylist's work. The green dye had left a hairline pattern on his bald pate.

"The nice thing is I know this green is going to wash off," Mackie said.

He'd personally exceeded his personal goal of raising $500 by reaching $800. His entire group of 23 Hoffman Estates firefighters had raised about $11,000 altogether.

Kurt Koenig of Cary put together a team of 14 people and raised a little more than $13,000 on behalf of his 14-year-old son, Kevin, who was diagnosed with cancer last summer and lost his hair in the fall.

Though Koenig and his 11-year-old son Kristian had never been bald before, they were looking forward to joining Kevin as team members of "Kev's Crew."

"It'll come back," Koenig said.

"Hopefully," Kevin teased with a sly smile.

Also visiting the event, along with Miss Illinois Ashley Hatfield and Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson, was Steve Strauss of Elmhurst, the first St. Baldrick's Foundation volunteer in the Chicago area from back in 2002.

Strauss was among just a few volunteers that year when he had his head shaved by now deceased TV anchorman Randy Salerno on the morning news.

Strauss looked with glee around the jampacked ballroom in Schaumburg Friday, feeling more proud of the popularity of the event that's been created than for his own personal donations.

"The funny thing is, our society has made us so self-conscious about hair," Strauss said. "Once you shave it off, you lose all that."

Another gratifying experience was seeing the comfort that boys and girls with cancer have taking off their bandanas when they see adults treating baldness as not that big a deal, Strauss said.

Organizers said there are still several more St. Baldrick's events coming up in the Chicago area, including at Patrick Cadillac in Schaumburg on Saturday. Details on all of them are at www.StBaldricks.org.