There's a tattoo of a starfish on Tammy MacDonald's wrist that reminds her why she does it all.
The woman at the head of the St. Valentine's Day Hair Massacure tells a story about a young boy tossing beached starfish back into the tide. An old man scorns him for wasting his time because there are thousands of them. "What does it matter? You'll never save them all," he says. The young boy picks up another and replies, "It matters to this one."
That is the mantra that guides MacDonald as she leads the organization and the event. It is far from easy but something that she has to do to help as many people as possible, even if it's just one. In fact she has helped thousands even though she wasn't the one who started it. That was Gord MacDonald, who just wanted to do something after their daughter, Kali, developed leukemia.
"(It) was never meant to be … this," she admitted.
Originally the head-shaving event was a small affair for Gord and some of his co-workers at Canada Post to show support for children going through chemotherapy. He wanted her to do it too but she was not interested.
"I wasn't into that idea at all. I called my best friend. She had just lost her daughter, who was 14 months old. I was crying the blues on her shoulder, saying 'Gord is forcing me to shave.' She said, 'Ooh, that sounds like fun. Let's do it!' She shaved as well and we had a great time."
So did everybody else apparently. Head shaving became a humbling but emotionally powerful way to prove how much you cared. Word spread quickly.
"That 42 people turned into 98, turned into hundreds," Tammy stated, recalling the growth factor. "It was just nuts."
That was before the pink hair dye was even brought up as a gimmick by Gord. More of a marketing tool than anything, people were given the option to colour their hair in what can only be described as electric fuchsia. It catches people's eyes far and wide and has become some of the best advertising around, especially with schoolchildren from more than 20 schools across the area (including Gibbons School that MacDonald describes as a flagship for involvement).
The eye of the storm
While it's now an event that involves thousands of people across Alberta, even other provinces, it still has that small community heart to it. MacDonald wouldn't have it any other way, even though there's a lot of pressure to 'go corporate' and change the organizational structure. It's that heart that reminds her what is most important in life.
Family. Her family. Your family. Everyone who gets involved in the event is meant to feel like they belong. Even the hairstylists that face the pretty easy task of shaving heads are instructed not to make it a military assembly line affair.
Stacey Abdella was the very first hairstylist for the Hair Massacure and she knows the routine well. The client sits in the chair, the gown is draped around his or her neck, and then you find out what their story is.
"You talk to them so it's more touching," she explained. The head shaving isn't meant to be an impersonal act; it's meant to be just the opposite. She said the event brings out a lot of warmth between team members and participants.
"There's a lot of feeling behind it, a lot of heart."
The circus act
This is Tammy's fifth year at the helm and she struggles with the size and scope of it every day. She has dozens of captains under her and hundreds of volunteers under them. Her phone rings constantly, especially in the months leading up to the Massacure. She does school presentations, some as early as September. She has many meetings. She is thankful that she has just been able to hire an assistant.
She describes the work like an acrobat's act: trying to balance on something that keeps moving, all the while juggling a hundred balls in the air. It's difficult to fathom the stress to keep it all together and not succumb to the temptation to relinquish control to a corporation like most nationwide charities with high profile events.
"We have to keep the grassroots heart so that the individuals are not lost."
It's easy to miss the sheer immensity of it all until you actually see the big event. Every February, Tammy takes over the Ice Palace at West Edmonton Mall. She convenes her squadron of hairstylists, volunteers, participants, supporters, media, entertainers, celebrities, one Kali Bear mascot (named after her daughter, the event's inspiration) and FRED the poodle. That acronym stands for Family Run Event Dog, another emphasis about the importance of family. It's a massive one-day blitz that makes the rest of the shopping traffic look thin in comparison.
"Tammy is a really warm person," Abdella confides. "She gets back what she gives."
Growing pains
Part of the struggle includes some public perceptions and misconceptions about the event and the people behind it.
Tammy made it clear that she is really just running somebody else's race boat. The Massacure was Gord's idea, as was the pink hair dye.
She said the colour made its first appearance in the third year. Gord said he liked how pink had become a symbol for breast cancer supporters. That was all it took. Of course it worked out nicely that pink is also associated with Valentine's Day and it was Kali's favourite colour. The 'pinking' started in the third year. That's when Gord and Tammy began to realize the potential of the event.
"The next year it was like a full-blown hit. It was crazy. We had no idea it would be that popular."
While people can go pink, MacDonald insists that FRED does not get the same hair dye applied. That's just food colouring and it's harmless to animals, she explained.
The most important fact she wants people to remember is that they are meant to go bald at the end of the campaign. That is what means the most. The pink part is optional. Even Kali herself has shaved twice, even though she went bald three times due to side effects from her chemotherapy. Tammy even tried to talk her out of it but it seems her daughter has her mother's fierce spirit.
After seven Hair Massacures, over $3.5 million has been raised to benefit the Stollery Children's Hospital and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. For more information, call 780-989-7386 or visit www.hairmassacure.com.
