Dan gets close cropped

By Dan Hilborn
Published Sept. 4, 2004


I'm taking it off: taking it ALL off for charity. But no, I won't be running naked down the streets.

As part of the 2004 Cops for Cancer fundraising drive coming to Burnaby North secondary next month, I, Daniel Wayne Hilborn, assistant editor of the Burnaby Now, will be shaving my hippie- length head of hair to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.

This was not an easy decision to make.

My tousled blond tresses are now longer than they've been since I was a tie-dyed T-shirt-wearing student back at Port Moody senior secondary. My coif is my pride and joy. Despite its endless supply of split ends and bangs that hang over my eyes at the most inopportune moments, my hair is my greatest identifying mark.

But I have a very good reason to lose that shock of hair that has covered my scalp for the past 44 years.

My mother - who is undeniably the most wonderful woman in the world - has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments at the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver for the past three months in an attempt to reverse the growth of cancerous tumours in her abdomen.

While the treatments appear to be accomplishing their goal, my mom has suffered from one of their inevitable side effects. She's lost most of her own wonderful red hair.

Somehow, it's just not fair that I, the dutiful son, should keep my often untidy mop of hair, while my mother loses her own stylish locks.

Hence my decision to shave my head bald.

On Wednesday, Sept., 15, sometime around the lunch hour, I will join a group of Burnaby RCMP offices plus a contingent of Burnaby North secondary staff and students in having my hair cut.

Considering the fact that most of the other guinea pigs - er, is that donors? - are police officers, there is little doubt that my hair will be the longest of any of the males involved.

In addition to raising money for the cancer society, my chopped locks will be used to make wigs for children who lost their own hair after undergoing their own cancer treatments.

Personally, this is the first time I've tried to raise money on a large scale for any nonprofit agency. While I've donated to many causes, and joined campaigns that other people have organized around our newspaper office and elsewhere, I've never before been the main ball carrier on something like this.

So, bear with me as I try to figure out the best way for the public to make a donation.

If you think my hair is ridiculously long, and a good, close- crop shearing is long overdue, take a moment to pull out your chequebook and send a donation.

Cheques can be sent to the Canadian Cancer Society - B.C. and Yukon Division, Attention: Stephani Agg, 565 West 10th Ave., Vancouver, B.C., V5Z 4J4, and write 'Cops for Cancer' in the note line.

People with Internet access can donate online at the B.C. Cancer Agency website, located at www.bc.cancer.ca.

And watch for some rather horrific photos of my ordeal sometime after the big event.