After nearly two years, White Rock Whalers’ forward Sam Dowell finally got a hair cut.
The long-locked 19-year-old Surrey native grew out his hair for 21 months, but finally made a visit to a barber shop – Cloverdale’s Harry & Sons – on Tuesday to get his hair chopped off. He plans to donate the hair – 10 inches of it – to Wigs for Kids B.C., an organization that assists young cancer patients who lose their own hair as a result of chemotherapy treatments.
“I thought if I was to grow it, I might as well do it for a good cause,” Dowell said in a Whalers’ news release emailed to Peace Arch News.
“It’s always been in my mind, since I was a kid, actually – that I’ll do anything for other people, no matter what. I’ll put others before myself.”
Dowell, who also has junior ‘B’ experience in the Pacific Junior Hockey League with the Delta Ice Hawks and Abbotsford Pilots, has three personal connections to cancer – his grandfather died after a battle with cancer; his grandmother, who has also since passed away, also survived breast cancer; and Dowell also had a friend who went through cancer treatments, and lost her hair as a result.
Dowell noted that his friend struggled to “find different wig styles” and in one conversation, was brought to tears. That moment “tugged at Dowell’s heartstrings” the release said.
Since the team’s first PHJL season in 2018, the Whalers have routinely supported cancer-research initiatives – notably Movember and Hockey Fights Cancer night.
Team captain Tyler Price said he was not surprised by Dowell’s hair donation.
“He’s the type of guy that would stick up for anyone when they need help,” he said.
White Rock assistant coach Julian Feijo agreed, calling Dowell an “outstanding young man.”
sports@peacearchnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
