Lynn Honeywill, The Examiner
2006-06-07 09:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Wade Tyree felt helpless when his older sister Shane battled cancer five years ago.

“For the first time in my life, it didn’t matter how hard I studied or how fast I ran or could hit a ball. There was nothing I could do,” said Tyree, 25, now a local filmmaker, and then a student and athlete.

Wade Tyree could only watch from the sidelines as his sister successfully navigated treatment for thyroid cancer, a disease probably caused by radiation treatment she received as an infant for another cancer.

On Saturday, however, Tyree will help ill children by submitting his long dark-blond locks to the barber’s scissors. He’s donating his ponytail to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children with long-term hair loss, including some with cancer. And he’s making a documentary about it.

Tyree has recruited 16 others to be filmed this Saturday as their hair goes under the knife. The shearing will be witnessed by children at the Ronald McDonald House. When Shane was a child, the Tyree family stayed at the Baltimore Ronald McDonald House while University of Maryland physicians treated her.

“My sister is the motivation for this, but inevitably, it’s about the kids,” said Tyree, who spent several hours at the Ronald McDonald House earlier this year.

Tyree’s sister Shane, who didn’t lose hair during cancer treatment, lives in Miami now and can’t be in town for the filming. But her positive attitude could easily inspire everyone there, say those who know her.

Shane Tyree doesn’t bemoan her struggles with illness, which include several surgeries for scoliosis — curvature of the spine — caused by her bout with childhood cancer. When she was just 10 months old, doctors discovered a life-threatening, football-size tumor wrapped around her spine.

“If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change anything. Because it makes me who I am,” said Shane Tyree. “And I like myself.”

How to help

To volunteer your hair to be sheared during filming, contact Wade Tyree at Wade@forShane.com or by calling him at 410-484-8464 before Saturday. For more information, visit the documentary’s Web site at www.forshane.com.