A Basalt girl who is battling cancer received support Thursday night from her little brother and his buddies on a hockey team.
Cooper Cunningham and several teammates on the Glenwood Grizzly bantam hockey team had their heads shaved before practice at the Glenwood ice rink. They are raising money for cancer research.
“Ten kids are doing it for sure. Two are on the fence,” team manager Michelle Oger said prior to the gathering. Her son Hunter was among the teammates stepping up to the shears. Coach Jeremy Joslin and assistant coach Rickey Luetke also volunteered for shaves.
Cooper’s sister, Anna Cunningham, is battling Ewing sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that typically affects kids and young adults. Anna is a junior at Basalt High School. Her situation has sparked an outpouring of support from classmates, teachers and administrators. They organized a head-shaving event that will be held Wednesday called Basalt Bold & Bald to raise funds for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a national charity that funds childhood cancer research grants.
Numerous students, teachers and administrators — male and female — plan to go under the shears at Basalt Bold & Bald. They have already raised $53,293 as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Glenwood Grizzly head shaving is coordinated with the main mane event. The hockey team is comprised of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders who live between Basalt and Silt, so they would have trouble getting to Basalt High School for the main head shaving, Oger explained. They figured they would get shaved when they are all together for practice. So far, the team has raised nearly $5,300 for Basalt Bold & Bald.
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“It’s to show Cooper we’re trying to support them in any way we can,” Oger said.
To learn more about Basalt Bold & Bald and how to donate, go to https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/13584/2019.