Supplied — Krysti MacDonaldKyrsti MacDonald is no stranger to having a pink head of hair, nor to shaving it all off for a good cause. As a member of the founding family of the Hair Massacure, a province-wide fundraiser for children with life-threatening illnesses, Feb. 24 will mark the sixth time Macdonald has shaved her locks.
It was MacDonald’s younger sister Kali that inspired the first ever Massacure in 2002. Kali was undergoing rigorous chemotherapy treatments for leukemia, and had lost her hair for the third time.
“She had gotten to the point where she was saying that she didn’t feel pretty anymore, so to make her feel better, to feel like it was normal, my Dad started this event,” MacDonald said.
The inaugural Hair Massacure began at a Canada Post office in Edmonton, with 48 participants who managed to raise $37,000.
The pink hair came later, when MacDonald’s father, Gordon, become frustrated with his inability to raise money as a man shaving his head. One day he vented to his family that he might as well just dye his hair pink.
“My mom heard this, and dared him to do it,” MacDonald said. “It went with the Valentine’s Day theme.”
Manic Panic Hair Dye now sells the shade ‘Kali Pink’ specifically for the cause.
All participants who pink their hair and shave it off are enshrined as ‘Proud Victims of the Hair Massacure.’ MacDonald estimates that about 70 per cent of the Proud Victims are children themselves. Since 2002, the Hair Massacure has raised more than $10.3 million. As VIP Director of Hair Massucure, MacDonald is a perpetual “big sister,” working primarily with the children and families that her organization seeks to help.
“I’ve met some very strong kids that are so giving of themselves,” MacDonald said. “I have the choice to shave my head and I’m lucky in that regard. I have this choice to lose my hair, they don’t.”
All money raised goes to support the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and Make-A-Wish Northern Alberta, as both foundations that have helped support MacDonald’s family in the past.
MacDonald, a University of Alberta student, studying on Campus Saint-Jean, said her vibrant pink hair has become quite the talking point on the small campus. People react mostly, she said, with “shock”.
“Most people are just like, wait, why? But one of the big things I hear is, ‘that’s so brave, I could never do that.’”
For MacDonald though, it has little to do with bravery.
“I’m lucky enough to still have my sister today, and I’m lucky enough to be able to do this,” she said.
One of MacDonald’s goals this year, which she describes as “modest,” is to make her hair worth $5,000.
“It’s a small sacrifice but it is a sacrifice to make, right? I do feel like it’s worth that, but I feel like the event is worth even more. I’m so proud of the cause.”
