Cancer fighters: St. Baldrick’s head-shaving fundraiser held on Strip

More than 100 Las Vegas residents and tourists had their heads shaved Saturday to raise money for childhood cancer research.

Local performers served as hairdressers, shaving off mohawks, foot-long locks and beards for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s 13th annual Brave the Shave outside Nine Fine Irishmen at New York-New York.

“It’s a great cause I think everybody can support,” said this year’s event organizer, Jason Wooge. “Whether you’re personally affected by cancer or know someone who is, it’s a very sad truth. It’s something we can all stand behind.”

Wooge, MGM Resorts International’s director of retail operations, shaved his head for St. Baldrick’s on Tuesday, but his two children Noah, 10, and Seth, 7, waited until Saturday.

Wooge said his 10-year-old was nervous other kids in school would make fun of him, so Wooge wrote Noah’s teachers a note explaining that he was raising money for cancer research. The teachers read the note to the class, explaining why Noah would be bald Monday, and several teachers donated money.

“By shaving your head, you really stand in solidarity with the children who are going through this,” Wooge said.

Dr. Kenneth Misch of St. Rose Pediatrics opened the ceremony Saturday after the Las Vegas Emerald Society Pipe Band marched to the stage playing bagpipes. He thanked the participants for the money they had raised and their choice to make a drastic change in their appearance.

“I can tell you from working with a lot of these kids that have been unfortunately stricken with cancer, that what you’re doing today by being here means so much to those kids and our community,” he said.

Among the 125 people scheduled to lose their hair Saturday, Wooge said at least 80 were MGM Resorts employees. Others could sign up at the event as well.

Stewart Patchefsky, general manager of the Mansion at MGM, said he wanted his kids to be involved in charity work. Patchefsky’s five sons, Max, 17, Zachary, 13, Frankie, 11, Michael, 8, and Nicholas, 4, sat next to their dad onstage, each saying goodbye to their hair.

“I want to teach my children to look out for others and love others and look for the good in the world,” Melissa Patchefsky said, standing with her two daughters who got to go home with their hair untouched.

Erik Vela, director of finance operations for New York-New York, said if the crowd could raise $150 while he was onstage, he would let them shave his beard. To shave his thin mustache, his family was pressed into raising another $100 for the cause.

Cash Garcia, 38, sat next to his 9-year-old nephew, Xander Martinez, while the two were shaved. Garcia has participated in the fundraiser for five consecutive years, and this year he came with a foot-tall, spiked mohawk.

“I lost a friend to cancer in high school, and my brother-in-law is a cancer survivor,” Garcia said onstage.

The fundraiser came to Las Vegas through Brian and Lynn McMullan, owners of McMullan’s Irish Pub, in 2007. The McMullans lost their 2-year-old daughter Kyra to a brain tumor that year.

On Saturday, the McMullans stood among dozens of families, tourists and anxious shavees.

MGM Resorts President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle said Saturday that he plans to keep the event on MGM property and that he’s proud of employees who choose to participate each year.

“I think it’s part of our culture, who and what we are,” Hornbuckle said. “We’ve been supporting this thing for over a decade and couldn’t be more excited to be here.”

For more information or to donate, visit stbaldricks.org.