EDINBURG — Dora Polin walked into the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance yesterday with a full head of hair reaching her shoulders and walked out completely bald. She did a little cheer once she knew her head was fully shaved because she stood in solidarity with the thousands of children fighting cancer.
Polin was one of the 41 people who shaved their heads with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation during the 8th annual RGV Brave the Shave to raise awareness for childhood cancer; 10 of the 41 shavees were female.
“I’ve been supporting the cause for a few years,” Polin said. “Seeing local kids that are sick is very impactful. These kids are amazing and the fact that they take everything in stride, they don’t complain; they’re the true heroes of these types of events.”
At the event, four local children who are currently battling cancer were honored. The children were asked to bestow knighthood on returning participants as Knights of St. Baldrick’s Baldtable. After the knighting, the shaving process began.
Though the 35-year-old said she and her friends have organized walks for pediatric cancer, she said it was her first time shaving her head to raise awareness.
“I’m just thinking to myself, I wonder how the kids feel once they undergo these treatments and start losing their hair,” Polin said. “I’m just thinking of the kids themselves; it’s very humbling to put yourself in their place.”
Before shaving her head in conjunction with St. Baldrick’s, Polin raised $324 to donate to the organization. Overall, more than $7,000 was raised Sunday.
“I did it for the kids and to bring awareness,” she said. “It’s right here in the Rio Grande Valley, in our backyard.”
Every day, 43 children are diagnosed with cancer; more than 40,000 children are in cancer treatment each year, according to Curesearch for Children’s cancer.
The Weslaco native said that she hopes to raise more monetary donations after posting a picture of her shaved head to social media.
The donations to St. Baldrick’s go toward research, an organization or an individual. The organization works in unison with pediatric oncologists to find the most promising treatments to fund.
One of the event coordinators, Bob Heiser, said he first got involved eight years ago.
“We started off in an RV park,” the 77-year-old said. “A group of seniors that danced together put on the first event. A friend who lost his son to cancer asked me to get involved back in 2008.”
Since then, the Alamo native said the event has grown exponentially. He said it is no longer just the people in the RV park who get their heads shaved, though they still have a large presence.
“It needs to get into the community,” Heiser said. “It’s been very gratifying to meet the kids and to see the people dedicated. There are parents here with their kids that are undergoing treatment.”
Lydia Valdez said that she sees children battling cancer each day at work.
“I lost two of my girlfriends to cancer,” the 49-year-old said. “They would tell me what they felt when their hair was falling and I starting thinking about how I see the kids; they don’t have hair. If my friends, who were already older, couldn’t understand or didn’t accept losing their hair and got depressed, imagine a child?
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, you don’t want to look like that,” the Mission native said. “What I wanted to do was to demonstrate that hair is not the most important thing. Hair grows. There are other more important things which we can fight for in life. Beauty is on the inside and not outside.”
She said her goal was to support them emotionally. Valdez shaved her head previously when her friends were diagnosed with cancer five years ago. Today, her curly hair was halfway down her back, then completely gone.
“I feel very glad because I know that the children like the ones being honored today, I know that it’s for them,” Valdez said. “There are so many children that are passing through this and one will never understand when you’re not fighting the disease. It’s important so that the children don’t feel alone.”
For more information on the St. Baldrick’s foundation, visit stbaldricks.org.
