OXFORD — Rob McCarthy knows people who have lost their hair while being treated for a form of cancer.
To celebrate his 60th birthday, McCarthy had his full head of hair cut and shaved as part of his preparation for the Oct. 13 and 14 Patrick Dempsey Challenge, a 10-mile bicycle ride in greater Lewiston.
“Friends and customers have been through this,” said McCarthy, the 1996 founder of Dr. Rob’s Garage, “and because I’m in the Dempsey Challenge, I wanted to relate to how they felt about having no hair.”
During his birthday party at the Oxford Congregational Church, McCarthy’s curly hair was shorn by Kelly Warren, who works at Klips Salon in Oxford. Then McCarthy’s son, Brian Landis, completed the project by shaving McCarthy’s head.
Friends and family attended the celebration and many of them contributed $485 to the Patrick Dempsey Center for Hope and Healing.
On display at the party was the shirt McCarthy will wear in the Dempsey Challenge, and several attendees wrote messages on that shirt in memory of cancer victims who have died. “I welcome all of my friends to write notes on the shirt,” McCarthy said. “This is for all of those who we want to remember.”
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