An Eleanor Hall School student is going pink to raise money for cancer charities for the third year in a row, and this time she’s got some high-profile backup.
Elora Charabin has been taking part in the annual Hair Massacure event since 2010, and has seen both her team and her fundraising results grow during that time.
This year, she was able to help talk the school principal Don Hinks into going pink to support the cause, as well.
“I decided I would take a chance. I have never dyed my hair in my life, and I would support Elora in her quest to raise that awareness and help raise some money for kids’ cancer research,” he said.
He noted that given the importance of the cause, it was a pretty easy decision to make.
The Hair Massacure was started in 2003 by Gord MacDonald, whose youngest daughter Kali was diagnosed with leukemia in 2000 when she was two years old. She spent the next three years undergoing daily chemotherapy treatments and has been in remission since 2003.
Participants raise money, sometimes by pledging to dye their hair pink, shave it, or donate it to have wigs made.
Since 2003, the event has raised about $6 million for the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Northern Alberta Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Ronald McDonald House.
Elora said she got involved with it because she saw a commercial one day showing a young boy in the hospital hooked up to machines, and it moved her to do something to help kids in that sort of a situation.
“I wanted to do something, really anything, to help out. I found out about the Hair Massacure so I joined,” she said.
In the past, she has dyed her hair and cut it short to try to meet her fundraising goals, but this year she has decided to take it a little bit further.
“I’ve gone shorter and shorter every year, and now I’m going to go bald,” she said.
Elora’s grandmother, Cheryl Charabin, said that at the big hair-cutting event last year they saw many little girls decked out in princess attire walking around with bald heads.
“It didn’t bother them; they were dancing all over the place,” she said. “Elora said, ‘It doesn’t bother them that they don’t have hair, and they’re really young. If they can do it, I can do it,’”
After raising $2,600 last year, Charabin said she’s hoping to beat that total this year. The big event will take place Feb. 15 near the ice palace at West Edmonton Mall.
Anyone looking to get involved or to donate money can either donate in person at the Eleanor Hall School office or go online to hairmassacure.com and donate to “Team Charabin.”
