A bald rodeo queen is not something you see every day — meet Katie Perry, Miss Rodeo Illinois 2014 and a first-time St. Baldrick’s shavee℠. She’s so inspiring we just have to say yeehaw!
Katie Perry, Miss Rodeo Illinois 2014, shaved for St. Baldrick’s and her event raised almost $3,000.
During Katie Perry’s year-long reign as Miss Rodeo Illinois, her dark hair had been curled and combed and teased, then topped with a cowboy hat.
It’s called “Queen Hair” and the hair care routine needed to achieve it (plus the massive amounts of hairspray) is familiar to most rodeo queens.
But then came December 20, 2014.
There were no second thoughts when those clippers reached her scalp.
“I’m an all-or-nothing-type person,” Katie said. “I never had any regrets about it. I wouldn’t change that for the world.”
During her St. Baldrick’s event, Katie put her long, dark hair into 12 ponytails, auctioned each one off for childhood cancer research and then shaved her head in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The event raised almost $3,000 for St. Baldrick’s and turned out to be quite a spirited, emotional and unique way for Katie to cap off her reign as rodeo queen.
“No rodeo queen just shaves her head,” she said.
Katie Perry, Miss Rodeo Illinois 2014, learned to ride horses at 10 years old. She said she never expected to be crowned rodeo queen.
Her mantra during the 22-minute shave? “It’s all for the kids.”
St. Baldrick’s Honored Kid Lily was the one who inspired the rodeo queen to shave off her locks. The little girl was going through treatment for neuroblastoma and unfortunately, she was too ill to attend Katie’s shave.
Katie was able to visit Lily in the hospital after the shave and she said the little girl was shy, but full of personality.
“I told her that I shaved my head because I saw how strong she was and she was my hero and I wanted to be like her.”
Lily passed away about a month later.
“I don’t need my hair. Somebody else does,” Katie said. “God was telling me — my heart was telling me — that Lily deserves a little bit more awareness and the kids deserve so much more.”
Katie holds her hair after shaving for St. Baldrick’s.
With her crown and without it, Katie is dedicated to raising awareness of childhood cancer. It’s a cause that’s been special to her for a while. Before she was a rodeo queen, she worked at the blood bank at Children’s Hospital of Illinois and routinely saw children affected by cancer. Katie’s cousin, who’s just about her age, was diagnosed with leukemia.
As Miss Rodeo Illinois, Katie had a pair of chaps specially made with cancer ribbons stitched up and down each leg. Each ribbon is a different color, representing a different type of cancer. There’s pink, blue and, of course, gold. She wore them at rodeos on days which are dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research. She paired the chaps with a vest, which was covered with children’s hand prints and displayed the message ‘finding a cure for childhood cancer’.
Those chaps were given to Miss Rodeo Illinois 2015 and will be passed down to the rodeo queens who come after her.
Katie, left, wears her special chaps while riding with a fellow rodeo queen.
Though she no longer has those chaps to raise awareness, Katie’s semi-bald head seems to be just as good of a conversation starter. She works as a waitress and when customers ask her about her hair, she shows them a picture of Lily and tells them about St. Baldrick’s.
“All I wanted was to be able to talk about Lily, to talk about kids and show them that this is real stuff that we don’t always see,” she said. “If I could have one person ask me, then that was OK. That was enough.”
You don’t need to be rodeo royalty to make an impact. Take after Katie and help raise awareness and crucial funding for childhood cancer research.
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