‘Hagrid’ to lose locks for cancer
LEONGATHA’S James ‘Hagrid’ Wearne, a teacher at Mary MacKillop College in Leongatha, is set to get his long mane shaved off March 13 in Geelong as part of the World’s Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation.
The jovial community figure is having fun with the process, even preparing for his impending baldness by buying an unconventional wig of sorts.
“It’s a shaggy beanie. It comes with a beard you hook over your ears – it’s classic,” Hagrid explained.
While he is able to have a laugh at himself, Hagrid’s heart is exceptionally close to the cause and his optimistic outlook and strength is to be admired, especially in light of recent events.
“My wife Sam was diagnosed in June of 2017 with pancreatic cancer and passed away in October 2017,” Hagrid said.
Samantha Wearne was a chef at Woorayl Lodge and, like her husband, was very community orientated.
“No one saw it coming,” Hagrid said.
“She was coping really well with chemo – as well as she could – but she had a seizure one morning, was taken to a Melbourne hospital and passed away the following day. She had a brain tumour which had haemorrhaged. We didn’t know she even had a brain tumour until we got down to the hospital. It was a secondary cancer.
“We’ve got four sons and it’s pretty hard for the kids. It was a shocker. It’s certainly brought the boys and I closer together.”
Hagrid said that when his wife initially fell ill, he started to grow his hair out so that he could fashion a wig out of it for her. Mrs Wearne wasn’t so keen.
“She told me I needed a haircut,” Hagrid chuckled.
When the first anniversary of her passing arrived last October, Hagrid thought he’d cut his hair and donate it when he saw a Facebook post made by an old friend, Kylie Clarke, who had also suffered through cancer.
“I saw that Kylie was five years in admission and was going to do the World’s Greatest Shave and was looking for a team,” Hagrid said.
“The team goal is $10,000.”
The 25 person team, Clarkey’s Angels, is aiming to raise $10,000.
“With Kylie getting crook, that was the first wow. It’s not just the bloke across the road, this can happen to your friends, it can happen to anyone. Then Sam got crook,” Hagrid said.
“Then Ed Carmody the founding principal of Mary MacKillop, who was such a beautiful man, passed away a few weeks ago from his struggle with cancer.
“My brother Michael had cancer as well, but he’s pulled through because of a drug trial.”
With cancer becoming more prevalent, Hagid is pushing for more research to be done and for cures to be found.
Leukaemia Foundation will celebrate 21 years of the World’s Greatest Shave campaign this year.
Every day another 35 Australians are diagnosed with a blood cancer. That’s one Aussie every 41 minutes.
To sponsor Hagrid and help raise much needed funds for vital cancer research, head to www. worldsgreatestshave.com/ and search for ‘Hagrid Wearne’.
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