Shannon McQuin sometimes forgets that she’s bald.
After all, it’s been less than a week since the 10-year-old shaved off her chin-length hair.
‘‘It still feels the same until I reach up there,” said Shannon of Mount Airy. ‘‘I’m still getting used to it.”
Shannon was one of 28 people who shaved their heads Saturday as part of a St. Baldrick’s fundraising event at O’Lordan’s Irish Pub in Westminster for childhood cancer research.
Head-shaving fundraisers have taken place in 18 countries and 46 states, raising more than $34 million, according to the St. Baldrick’s Web site (www.stbaldricks.org).
Shannon’s family organized Saturday’s event in honor of her brother, Bobby, 28, a 20-year cancer survivor, who also shaved his head. In all, four of Shannon’s siblings and her father went under the razor. Shannon’s sister Amy, 17, lopped off 22 inches.
Tim Barkley said Amy’s courage inspired him to do the same. ‘‘If a young a lady that age, that beautiful would be willing to sacrifice her hair ... if she was willing to do it, why not me?” asked Barkley, who lives and practices law in Mount Airy.
Barkley and his 15-year-old daughter, who also shaved her head, raised between $1,500 and $2,000 for St. Baldrick’s, he said.
For Monrovia teen Peter Kordell, going bald was a small price to pay to raise money for cancer research. After Peter, 17, found out his friend Amy was shaving her long, curly hair, he said, ‘‘I thought, heck, I should be able to do it, too.”
Peter raised $234, beating his goal of $150. He said he shaved his head not only to show solidarity with Amy, but because his family recently lost a dear friend, Andy Greenburg, to cancer.
Peter, who is home-schooled, said his friends have given him some funny looks and a bit of a hard time, but he said any embarrassment is more than worth knowing he raised money to fight childhood cancer.
‘‘I’m glad to know in my own small way I was doing something,” he said. ‘‘It felt great to make a difference against a disease that has touched so many people’s lives.”
St. Baldrick’s supporters walked into the pub at 1 p.m. Saturday with donations totaling $7,500, and walked out with more than $16,500, exceeding their $15,000 goal. The total was a combination of money donated online, from a silent auction at the pub, and money people wanted gave on site, and organizers say there is still money coming in.
‘‘I thought it was amazing,” said Beth McQuin, Shannon’s mother. ‘‘It was a blessed event. People were just terrific.”
In addition to Bobby McQuin, other Mount Airy children still battling cancer were honored. Jacqueline Hobbs and MacKenzie Stuck, both 11, were two of the children for whom participants shaved their heads, including MacKenzie’s father, Steve Stuck, who also shaved his eyebrows for more money.
Jacqueline was unable to attend the event; however, MacKenzie, who will undergo a stem cell transplant next week, did and shaved her head as well.
Shannon said she wanted to shave her head to show solidarity with children who lose their hair due to medical treatments. ‘‘I want to show people that I care about kids with cancer.”
‘‘Well, I was excited at first, but then I started crying in the middle.” She said the tears came from feeling that first bit of hair leave her head, knowing she was actually going through with it.
She has also experienced an upside of having less hair.
‘‘It’s easy to do some things with a little bit of hair.” She said it now takes only three seconds for her head to dry after a shower compared to the 10 minutes it took prior to being shaved. ‘‘I feel free.”
