Three South Whidbey firefighters and a fire chief gave up their hair Thursday morning to raise more than $1,500 to help pay for treatment for 11-year-old South Whidbey leukemia patient Ryan Furman.
If Ryan could have been there, he would have been laughing.
After issuing a $1,000 fundraising challenge to the South Whidbey Kiwanis Club on behalf of Furman and his family, firefighters Eldon Baker, Don Elliot, and Robin Flem had their heads shaved bare in symbolic solidarity with Furman, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy.
The story gets better. An unexpected, late spurt of fund raising spurred on by an offer from Fire Protection District 3 Chief Don Smith to shave his head, too, got Kiwanians and the firemen digging in their pockets.
The price was $500. They paid that plus $56 more.
Those gathered at the Useless Bay Country Club for the event offered to rescind the shave order if Smith matched the donation. He declined. He said he had plenty of time to regrow his hair before his daughter gets married next summer.
“I’ve got a wedding in June,” he said as he went under the clippers. “It’s not the time, it’s the 556 bucks.”
The money collected will go to support the Furman family, which has been literally living at Seattle Children’s Hospital and is paying for Ryan’s medical expenses out of their own pockets. Ryan’s father, Rick, is an 18-year veteran of FD3. The family was in the process of moving to the Leavenworth area when Ryan was diagnosed with leukemia. They are now living in a travel trailer in the hospital’s parking lot while Ryan undergoes treatment and recovers in his hospital room.
Speaking from the hospital Thursday afternoon, Ryan’s mother, Diane, said the family had canceled its health insurance in preparation for the move. They were uninsured when Ryan was diagnosed.
Now in his second round of chemotherapy, Ryan is at a delicate state in his treatment. His mother said the leukemia is in remission, but Ryan’s white-blood-cell count is at zero.
“Now we just cross our fingers,” she said.
Thousands of dollars in donations from South Whidbey firefighters and other people in the community have eased the burden on the Furman family, which has two other children. Diane said she is amazed by the generosity.
“It’s overwhelming the number of people who have been kind to us,” she said.
Smith’s Thursday shaving was his second since becoming FD3 chief. He lost his locks in 1996 for another fund-raising effort.
