Local St. Baldrick's event raised $20K for childhood cancer research

Shaving heads, saving lives

Posted

John Zozzaro, a local businessman and the organizer of the 11th annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser at the Downtown Café in Glen Cove, was one of about 50 people who ended St. Patrick’s Day with much less hair than he had when the day began. And thanks to his efforts, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation ended the day with about $20,000 more to support childhood cancer research.

The St. Baldrick’s events, in which participants, also called “shavees,” recruit sponsors and then shave their heads in solidarity with child cancer patients, are one of the leading contributors to the study of childhood cancer. Since the Downtown started hosting the Glen Cove event, it has raised over $300,000 for the foundation.

“I’ve never shaved a head before,” said Ric Wilson, a 17-year-old cancer survivor. Focusing intently, he ran a vibrating hair clipper from the back of shavee Patrick Costello’s neck to his forehead.

In his battle with osteosarcoma, Ric underwent 45 rounds of chemotherapy and a 16-hour surgery to reconstruct his pelvis. “He’s the first kid to have that surgery at Sloan Kettering,” said his mother, Francisca, adding that the surgery was the reason Ric was using a cane to walk.

Ric’s brother died of neuroblastoma when Ric was much younger. Francisca said that he took it on himself to comfort her. “I get emotional sometimes,” she said. “I’d say, ‘I’m not crying,’ and he’d say, ‘Yes you are, I can see it in your face.’”

After a year and a half of treatment, Ric went into remission, and has been cancer-free since last May.

Standing beside him as he shaved Costello’s head were Josephine and Nick Pedone, whose 7-year-old son Nicholas died of neuroblastoma in 2013, and who have since been active in efforts to fight childhood cancer.

Zozzaro said that even though he had organized the event for years, it took on new meaning when Nicholas died. “That’s when it really hit me,” Zozzaro said. “Everybody loves kids. I love kids.”

The crowd at the Downtown — at the corner of Glen and School streets, right in the middle of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route — had grown once the parade passed, as spectators sought a venue for an afternoon of green-tinged festivities. Classic rock blasted from the street-facing speakers, and an emcee narrated the action as participants sat in a line of chairs, their scalps getting well acquainted with barbers’ clippers.

A cordoned-off section of sidewalk outside the café was littered with hair — disembodied cowlicks, thick tufts, short bristles. From time to time a volunteer pulled a broom across the sidewalk, to limited effect, as patrons, drinks in hand, milled in and out. Some of them stopped to watch friends and strangers lose their hair for the cause. This year, those who chose to settle at the pub for an afternoon of friendly imbibing saw several celebrity shavees, including former Mayor Reginald Spinello and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi. “This is a pretty dramatic thing for me,” Suozzi said. “I feel very different.” He took several deep breaths and rubbed his head, trying to come to terms with the new fuzzy texture of his scalp. “As difficult as this is,” he said, “it’s not nearly as difficult as what families go through when they face cancer, especially childhood cancer.”

Suozzi recalled the impact that Nicholas Pedone had on him. “I saw him at church,” he said. “I saw him receive his first communion.”

Since Nicholas’s diagnosis, Suozzi added, “I want to do more. I’m trying to do things politically and governmentally. Right now, we’re trying to get more money to the [National Institutes of Health] to study childhood cancer.”

According to the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer, only 4 percent of federal government cancer research funding is earmarked for the study of pediatric cancer.