West Islip woman sings through St. Baldrick’s head shaving

About halfway through Sunday’s St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser at Lily Flanagan’s Pub in Babylon, the floor was cleared so that the only barber’s seat in the house was taken by the top donor.

After speaking to the packed house about her personal connection to the cause, Kathleen Gagliardi announced, “I’m ready.”

She smiled excitedly as her light brown, shoulder-length hair fell to the floor, even singing along to the song blaring from nearby speakers -- “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind. Gagliardi’s twin daughters, Samantha and Georgia, 15, broadcast the whole process on Facebook Live.

As the last strand of hair was shaved, Gagliardi’s husband, Gary, yelled out from the back of the bar, “You’re still hot, honey!”

Kathleen, of West Islip, surpassed her $10,000 fundraising goal, raising more than $11,000 for St. Baldrick’s, which supports the fight against childhood cancer.

“I just believe that when you set a goal, you have to believe that you’re going to achieve it, and you have to see it happening,” the Bethpage High School counselor said.

She feels strongly about the cause, having had some personal connections of her own. Two years ago, Gagliardi lost one of her students, Joseph Boncic, to Hodgkin's lymphoma during his junior year.  She specifically got her head shaved Sunday to honor Daniel McGeehin, her friend Amy's five-year-old son who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia last December.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: LI women getting heads shaved for St. Baldrick's

“You feel so helpless,” she said, “and it’s those who are least likely to defend themselves that are dying in numbers that are unacceptable. So I just decided that I could make a change by doing this.”

Many of the contributions on her St. Baldrick’s donation page were made in honor of people affected by cancer. Following many long hugs and happy tears after the shearing, Samantha said of her mother’s new look, “I’m excited for her… I don’t think I would be able to do it, so I’m just so proud that she was able to do it.”

As for how Gagliardi feels about her new appearance, she said, “If you think of children with cancer, especially teenagers, so much of who they are is their image and what they portray on the outside… I feel like they don’t have a choice, and I’m a 44-year-old woman who does not associate a lot of who I am with my image anymore, so to me, it’s just hair.”

She added that she hopes to educate those who will ask about her shaved head in the near future.

SEE PHOTOSSt. Baldrick's Day on LI: Check out the haircuts

“I’d like to encourage them to be a part of what I’ve been a part of,” she said. “Raise funds for childhood cancer, help to be a part of the cure, and just give them information. Knowledge is power. I’m super excited to pay it forward that way, too.”