Caroline Corsones, Staff Writer

“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.  For love is the beauty of the soul.”

Notre Dame freshmen Victoria Drazdik and Colleen McLinden showed the truth of these words of St. Augustine when they decided to shave their heads to support the Bald and the Beautiful charity.

In 2009, a small group of Notre Dame students held the first Bald and the Beautiful event, which is now the largest student-run philanthropic tradition on our campus. That first year, 140 students shaved their heads, raising over $26,500. This unique tradition has grown to 40 student volunteers, 1500 participants, and has raised over $150,000, benefitting the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and Memorial Hospital.  Participants have also given 250 hair donations to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

The sacrifices of Notre Dame students to raise money for cancer patients shows the spirit that defines this university, and Drazdik and McLinden embody this unrelenting spirit.

Drazdik is a freshman Architecture major in Farley Hall from Strongsville, Ohio, who brightens the days of her dorm mates with her contagious smile and caring attitude.

She recounts her reasons for participating in this landmark event: “When I was in sixth grade, my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer.  She underwent so much testing and medication trials and therapy, all the while experiencing seizures and insomnia due to the cancer’s effects.  With all her hard work, and with a lot of support from the medical community, my mom’s cancer is no longer malignant – meaning that she still has a benign tumor, but it isn’t growing any more, and in fact hasn’t grown for at least 7 years now.”

Drazdik continued, “While mine is a story with a happy ending, I am conscious of the fact that for many people, this is not the case. It was so hard for my mom to go through all the treatment and side effects, and I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for a small child to undergo them. I wanted to do something that not only raised awareness about the issue but that also actively helped work towards a future where our children are spared from this devastating experience.”

She inspires others with her commitment to helping others who live with the heartache she had to endure for most of her life.

McLinden is also a freshman in Farley who plans on majoring in theology.  Her kind demeanor and acceptance of everyone she meets makes her an irreplaceable member of the Farley community.  She said of her reasons for participating in the Bald and the Beautiful, “I believe that we are put on this earth to revel in the joy of God’s creation, and to love and serve others by sharing what we have with those around us. All my life people have been telling me that they love my hair, and I’ve become quite fond of my curls myself. Being able to give someone else my hair who doesn’t have their own is an awesome way to share what I have with others.

“I have wanted to donate my hair for a couple of years now, but it never seems to be quite long enough to cut enough off to donate and still have a reasonable amount left,” she continued. “I actually started thinking about TBAB a year or so ago when I first heard about it from a friend at Notre Dame, and I finally decided that I have been lucky enough to have my hair for the past almost nineteen years, and I wanted somebody else to be able to have it.”

She added: “My grandmother died of cancer when I was 10 years old, and since then I have become more and more aware of cancer mercilessly ripping through families and communities, and I know I am not alone when I say that I am ready for it to be stopped.”

McLinden went on to explain further her commitment to The Bald and the Beautiful.

“The rowing team has sort of adopted a Fight for Life cancer patient, little 5-year-old Brandon, who we get to hang out with and help to be a normal kid. He’s a little spark of life and kids like him and families like mine and so many I know are the reasons we need to keep battling cancer,” she said. “I don’t see myself making a medical breakthrough, so I want to give as much support as possible to the people who may be able to find it. As one person there is only so much I can do, but by shaving my head to raise awareness of this awful disease and the people who are fighting it, and by rallying my friends and family around me to come out to the event (April 17-19 in LaFun, be there!) and also to donate, I feel like I am at least able to do something.”

“As to shaving my head instead of just cutting off enough to donate, my grandpa used to say, ‘If you’re going to dig a ditch, dig the best d*** ditch you ever dug,’ or I like to tone it down a bit to, ‘if you’re going to go, go all the way.’ I decided to donate my hair, and if shaving my head will help to raise awareness, then count me in.” McLinden’s perseverance and sacrifice give hope to all those around her.

These girls make me proud to be a Notre Dame woman.

Caroline Corsones is a freshman English major with a minor in secondary education.  Please don’t put her down for cardio. Contact her at ccorsone@nd.edu.