Head-Shaving

Men Who Saved Each Other Shave Together

by Erinn Jessop, St. Baldrick's Foundation
April 28, 2015

Dr. Michael Shannon and Chris Trokey share a unique bond. In events separated by three decades, they saved each other’s lives. Now the men are working together as St. Baldrick’s shavees℠ to save the lives of kids with cancer.

Dr. Michael Shannon stands with Chris Trokey and his son Porter at a St. Baldrick's head-shaving event.

Dr. Michael Shannon stands with Chris Trokey and his son Porter at a St. Baldrick’s head-shaving event last month.

Chris was just a little boy the last time Dr. Shannon saw him.

But that little boy grew up.

On March 29, 2011, Chris was the 6-foot-3 paramedic working to pull the doctor from his burning SUV.

It was a chaotic scene and the two men didn’t recognize each other right away. There were other, more pressing things to worry about.

A Letter To Myself About Childhood Cancer

Dr. Shannon’s SUV was wedged under the semi-truck, and a fire had started under the crumpled hood. The flames licked around the firewall separating the engine compartment from the doctor. The impact had pushed the dashboard down onto his legs, trapping him.

“I looked down and there were some flames down by the accelerator pedal, which were making my shoe really hot.”

First he swiped at the flames with a fire extinguisher, but that only worked for so long. So the firefighters ran a hose through the back window.

“I actually got to put my foot out myself. So, my dream of being a fireman came partially true,” Dr. Shannon quipped.

Dr. Shannon's totaled SUV.

Dr. Shannon’s SUV was totaled after he slammed into the side of a semi-truck which was turning across lanes of traffic.

Twenty minutes later, the paramedics were able to pull him out. They packaged him up and closed the ambulance doors.

“I still didn’t know it was him at that point, but in the back when I was doing some of the documentation — we were going through his medical history and talking to him — that’s when I realized,” Chris said. “I thought it was him, but I didn’t say it because it was not the right time.”

A tiny life saved

About 30 years before, Dr. Shannon had stayed by Chris’s side when he was a premature baby, born weighing only 3 pounds and 2 ounces. The tiny infant had fallen ill soon after his birth.

“In those days we didn’t have any intensive care doctors and we didn’t have any neonatologists. It was me or nobody,” Dr. Shannon said. “So there were times with various patients, when they were very sick, that I spent the night and made sure everything went well.”

Being a modest guy, Dr. Shannon downplays the gesture, pointing out that he did get some sleep. But he was always close by, just in case.

Ask Me Why I'm Bald

Dr. Shannon continued to see Chris for the occasional bump, bruise and cold until he got too old for the pediatrician’s office.

Gratitude at the hospital

Though Dr. Shannon hadn’t seen Chris for years, when the paramedic introduced himself at the hospital, the doctor immediately knew who the young man was.

“Unfortunately, you remember the names best of the people you spent the most time with,” Dr. Shannon said. “So when there’s been some sort of an episode — like early in his life — where something big goes down, then that tends to be somebody that sticks with you.”

Dr. Shannon with the Orange County Fire crew that saved his life.

At a St. Baldrick’s head-shaving event last month, Dr. Shannon posed with the paramedics from Orange County Fire who saved his life. The paramedics all shaved for St. Baldrick’s.

At the hospital, Chris expressed his gratitude for the pediatrician’s lifesaving help so many years ago.

“I remember telling him, ‘Thank you, thank you, you really helped me out. Thank you for helping my parents when I was younger and helping me,'” Chris said. “And he was just like, ‘No, thank you.'”

Dr. Shannon was in the hospital for 45 days and he ended up losing some toes. It could have been much worse.

“It was one of those calls where a minute or two later would have made a huge difference,” Chris said, explaining that Dr. Shannon’s call had gone out just as the paramedics were arriving back at the station. They were on their way to the scene within 20 seconds. “That’s what helped him out the most — us being there as fast as we could. He’s definitely, definitely very lucky.”

Coming full circle with a shave

After Dr. Shannon got out of the hospital, he visited the paramedics who saved his life, bringing them lunch on the anniversary of his crash each year.

But this year, he decided to celebrate that anniversary differently.

Dr. Shannon has been an avid St. Baldrick’s shavee for a long time — in fact, he’d shaved just a few days before his car crash.

So, on the anniversary of the accident this year, the two men who saved each other’s lives shaved their heads together to raise money for lifesaving childhood cancer research.

Dr. Shannon got a letter A, for Ayden, shaved onto his scalp.

Honored Kid Ayden, one of Dr. Shannon’s patients who’s fighting a brain tumor, shaved his first initial onto his physician’s scalp.

“I loved it. I’m definitely coming back,” Chris said of the event in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, which raised $11,000 for childhood cancer research. “It was great. It was really humbling to talk to the parents and listen to their stories and see the kids.”

He now has a 4-month-old son, named Porter, who will shave with his dad some day, Chris said. (“He was born with quite a bit of hair actually,” he added.)

Guess who Porter’s pediatrician is? Dr. Shannon, of course.

Honored Kid Ayden stands with Chris' crew in front of their engine.

Honored Kid Ayden stands with Chris’s crew in front of their engine at the head-shaving event.

The doctor is as surprised as everyone else about how it all came full circle. But he’s certainly happy that it did.

“I sort of believe there’s a big plan for everything and I think that’s just evidence of it,” Dr. Shannon said.

Save lives. Shave and raise vital funds for childhood cancer research.

Shave

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