While Gibsons' Alex Cloherty was busy writing Grade 12 exams this week, she was also wondering if people would treat her differently when she's bald.
"I'm not really worried about not having hair, but it will be interesting to see how people react. I'm treating it as sort of a sociology experiment almost," Cloherty said.
The 17-year-old Elphinstone Secondary School grad, with hair down to her elbows, is planning to shave her head June 28 to create a wig for a deserving cancer patient, and she hopes to raise $1,000 for cancer research in the process.
Cloherty created an on-line fundraiser with the Canadian Cancer Society a couple of months ago, and so far she has raised $876, just $124 shy of her $1,000 goal.
She says that whether she reaches that goal or not, her long locks are coming off.
"I've got an appointment with Cindy at Artistic Images a week from today at 2 p.m. She is donating her time, which is really nice," Cloherty said.
She wanted to do the fundraiser after seeing a neighbour shave her head to raise money about six years ago. Cloherty has lost grandparents to cancer and the public display of a head shave in support of cancer research stuck with the then 11-year-old girl.
"I just thought it was such an amazing thing for her to do, and I always kind of wanted to do it in the back of my mind," she said. "It's just such a great cause and I decided that since I'm graduating and I've got a whole bunch of new things coming into my life, it was kind of a good time to make a change and raise some money for cancer while I'm doing it."
Along with the new look, Cloherty will be starting a new chapter in her life with a summer trip to Scotland to play base guitar with the Bad to the Bow group of the Coast String Fiddlers in the International Music Festival, and then a move to the Okanagan to start university in the fall.
At university, Cloherty plans to get her bachelor of science degree and go into medicine, with the hope of putting her skills to work in Third World countries some day.
"Working with Doctors Without Borders is my ultimate goal. I'm thinking along the lines of either being a pediatrician or a psychiatrist, travelling around to third world countries to help people out," she said.
If you want to support Cloherty in her quest to raise $1,000, go to her event page through www.cancerevents.kintera.org. Just look for Alex Cloherty under the "search events" button to donate.
