Boys Shave Heads In Show Of Support

Yorkville, Illinois; Dec 4 1992

Radiation treatment may soon cost Mark Lowry his hair, but his bald head won't stand out in the classrooms at Cross Lutheran School. 

When his classmates learned that Mark, 13, would undergo chemotherapy, all 15 of them decided to have their heads shaved in a show of support. By yesterday only two boys in the seventh and eighth grades weren't bald - one was due for a haircut this weekend; the other was Mark who came home from the hospital this week with a full head of hair. 

"It probably won't be for long, though," Mark said. 

Mark learned only recently he had leukemia and started chemotherapy treatment last week. Classmate Travis Busch then came up with the head-shaving idea, but cleared it with Mark first. "We didn't want him to feel we were making fun of him," said Travis. 

How long do the boys plan to go hairless? "Until Mark grows his hair back," they said. --AP