I would like to begin today's column with the following urgent announcement: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Sorry! But I just can't say it enough. Thank you!
Doug Speirs and 11 other Free Press staffers shaved their heads for a good cause.
I am feeling this way -- which I would describe as somewhere between warm and fuzzy and soft and mushy -- for a legitimate journalistic reason.
That reason is: You! And by "you," I mean all you readers who responded so passionately and so generously to our "Bucks for Baldies" campaign in which I and 11 colleagues shaved off our hair (this would be the hair on our heads) to raise some cash and support our very brave friend, photo editor Jon Thordarson.
Jon has lost a lung and a kidney to cancer, and recently lost what remained of his hair to chemotherapy, treatments that have made it impossible for him to ride in an annual summer bike race to raise funds for the fight against cancer.
Jon is the kind of guy who will do anything for a friend. He is the kind of guy who refuses to give an inch to a deadly disease. He is the kind of guy who walked around our office yesterday excitedly saying to everyone he meets "Guess how much I paid for these pants!" while being blissfully unaware that a giant price tag ($4.94) is stuck on one of his legs. So there's that.
Anyway, nudged by reporter Geoff Kirbyson, 12 of us decided to show Jon how much we care by shaving our heads to raise cash for CancerCare Manitoba.
And this is where you guys come in. In an effort, for once, to use my column for good as opposed to evil, I decided to share the pain by inviting ("begging" might be a better word) readers to help out.
And you did! Boy did you ever! I am not kidding here. The cheques started coming right away. And they're still coming. They came in cards. They came in letters. They came with notes. They came with pictures. They came in support of loved ones fighting cancer and in memory of those we've lost.
Most of all, they came with a lot of caring. And a lot of love. And a fierce determination to help in the fight against cancer.
And to help a stranger, our friend Jon. It is difficult using mere words to express how deeply moved everyone here at the paper, especially The Hairless Dozen, were by this avalance of kindness, but I will give it a try: We were all very very moved.
As of this moment, we have raised more than $11,500 and, fingers crossed, we're going to hit $12,000. That is nothing to sneeze at.
As I write this, I am sifting through dozens and dozens of notes trying to pick a few messages to share with you. It's not easy to decide, but here's one from reader Dawn MacFarlane expressing a common sentiment:
"You and your colleagues may not be as toothsome as Yul Brynner and Patrick "Captain Picard" Stewart (although Jon is gorgeous, hair or no) but you are decidedly beautiful people. Thanks for sacrificing your hair!"
And there was a handwritten note from Ken Affleck, an older gentleman who shared a room with our colleague when Jon was in Health Sciences Centre having a lung removed.
"When you were leaving, you presented me with your radio, which I deeply appreciated, especially since we were strangers," Ken wrote. "I thank you for your generous act. My wife and I pray your treatments will be successful."
And the Hairless Dozen? Will they keep their new looks? As far as I can tell, only two guys (neither of whom is me) will remain clean shaven.
Among those letting his hair grow back is my boss and buddy Bob Cox, our publisher, who had hoped a bald head would make him look "dangerous, edgy and distinct" at a big newspaper conference in Toronto.
"So the first person I see is the editor of the Toronto Star, who is bald, then the editor of the Metro newspapers, who is bald, then the editor of the Vancouver Province, who is bald. And so on and so on," Bob said in an e-mail.
So we can see that when it comes to running a newspaper, a full head of hair isn't all that important. But a big heart really helps.
Which brings us back to you guys and today's central point, which is: I really can't thank you enough. Because I've just run out of space.
doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca
PREVIOUS
