Shave for the Brave News

Kris Barrett is Brave

Posted on Feb 18, 2011

Young Adult Cancer Canada started shaving heads in 2006 to help the brave Canadian young adults who have to fight cancer every day of their lives. They are brave for admitting they are scared but going through treatment anyway, for facing the world without hair and with strange new scars, and for helping their loved ones hang onto hope.

The event is called the Shave for the Brave. We participate because there are people in our lives who have faced tough battles and they inspire us to go forward and help others when we can. You are wonderful for getting involved, but you are not necessarily brave for shaving your head. Kris Barrett is.

Kris was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2006 when he was 28-years old. He felt like something was strange one day when he was watching movies at home with his wife. After doing a self-exam and waiting for a day to see if the abnormality would go away, he went to the emergency room where he was diagnosed.

“From there it was a whirlwind of tests, surgery appointments, sperm banking, and all the things you never dream about having to do on a particular day—or ever in your life—and it just all came crashing down in one day,” he said.

After surgery and about 20 bouts of chemo, Kris is happy to report he is cancer-free and has shown infertility who’s boss with his three kids who are three, almost two, and six-months old.

After he finished treatment and started to put his life back in order, Kris got involved with the Young Adult Cancer Canada Youth Advisory Board. He wanted to get involved with the young adult community.  He emailed Geoff and they shared stories before Geoff invited him to get involved.

“I waited for some time before I got involved with Young Adult Cancer Canada—Realtime Cancer, at the time—simply because I was going through treatments and I didn’t really know where it was going to go, where I would be.”

This is going to be the third time Kris has shaved his head because of cancer and his second Shave for the Brave.

The first Shave happened in his kitchen and surrounded by family. “I knew that my hair was going to fall out so rather than letting the chemo take my hair, I shaved it myself…I remember having a great time shaving different designs in my head: doing a cul-de-sac, a cul-de-sac mullet, and all this kind of good stuff. It’s funny sometimes to look back at the times you’ve been through.”

Kris’s first official Shave for the Brave was in 2007. His first daughter, Nyah, was about six-months old at the time and the family got a great kick out of Kris and his baby girl leaving the mall that day with the same hairdo.

His kids have hardly seen him without hair but Kris thinks his wife is going to be thrilled when March 12 rolls around.

“My wife hates my hair; I have other family members who love it so there’s a bit of a mixed review about that but I think my wife’s going to be relieved when I finally get rid of it,” he said.

“We’re going on 18 months here now without a haircut so I’ve been in training, I guess you would say.”

Kris hopes his efforts will pay off and he will be able to donate his hair to go toward making wigs.

He said, “This is a way I can show my support and help people who are going through what I went through four or five years ago.”

STOP THINKING. START SHAVING.