Bald heads, big hearts
Before the start of their game against Mapletown on Friday, Sept. 30, the captains for the Carmichaels football team went out for the coin toss without their helmets. They wanted everybody to see their bald heads.
Earlier in the day, all 41 members of the Carmichaels football team, as well as several coaches and community members, shaved their heads in support of a local 10-year-old boy with cancer at a fundraiser held in the same place the Mighty Mikes would play that night.
Three days before his 10th birthday, Braedyn Wasko was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a cancer that accounts for one percent of childhood cancers. The doctors found Braedyn’s cancer after he was hit by a baseball pitch on back-to-back days in April. If those baseballs didn’t hit Braedyn, they may not have found his cancer as soon as they did–before it metastasized.
Braedyn’s mother, Carla Hughes, said the fundraiser raised about $8,000 for Braedyn’s medical and travel expenses, as he has about two more months of chemotherapy before possibly having surgery to remove the tumor in his leg.
“There are really no words to describe what this school district has done for us,” Hughes said.
“This is a very small community. For them to do all of this today, it’s amazing what they’ve done.”
Braedyn added, “[It’s meant] a lot. It’s pretty cool that they all did this for me; it’s pretty awesome.”
Hughes said her son was most worried about losing his hair, which is mostly gone now, from his chemotherapy treatments, leading to the fundraiser at the pep rally.
“He’s excited because now he knows that in this little area he’s not the only one who is bald, and that’s what he’s been worried about was [losing his hair],” Hughes said. “So now he’s a little bit more comfortable because he knows he’s not the only one.”
Carmichaels head football coach Ryan Krull, who helped spearhead the fundraiser, said the amount of money raised for Braedyn shows how special the town of Carmichaels is.
“Tough times like this you get to really see people’s true colors,” Krull said. “There’s been so much support from everyone throughout the community.”
Krull first found out about Braedyn’s cancer from his older brother Colby Wasko, who used to play for Krull on the football team. When it was time for Colby Wasko to get his hair shaved, Braedyn came over and took the clippers.
“I thought he was going to cut my ear,” Colby said, laughing. “He said before he was going to purposely do it.”
At the end of the pep rally, sophomore lineman Jacob Turner took a moment away from the guys to look out onto the empty football field.
“It’s just tough seeing that he’s 10 years old and he has to go through this,” he said, holding back tears. “He got dealt a bad hand. He’s 10 years old and he shouldn’t be going through this, so we’re all going to go through it with him.”
Krull, who had his eyebrows shaved because he is already bald, said the pep rally is something he’ll never forget.
“Proud would be the first word that comes to mind,” Krull said. “Proud of Braedyn Wasko…with the outlook he has in fighting this thing has taught us all something. I’m proud of our players as well. To have [our] guys to understand we’re doing something for a greater cause, it gives me chills.”
Carmichaels would win the football game against Mapletown 35-0, clinching the team a spot in the
playoffs.
But Carmichaels High School Principal John Menhart said it wasn’t about the game that night.
“It’s just incredible; it goes way beyond a football game,” he said. “The kids have rallied around this young man who is part of our family.”