In an effort to raise awareness for multiple sclerosis, Badger sophomore Mike Bruesewitz shaved his trademark red curly hair Wednesday during “Wake Up Wisconsin” on Madison’s WKOW-TV.
Bruesewitz partnered with the National MS Society to raise money and awareness for those with multiple sclerosis. The goal is to raise a minimum of $3,100 dollars, which reflects the sophomore guards’ jersey No. 31.
By: Justin Mertes-Mistretta
“This was a good way to do [a haircut],” Bruesewitz said. “Trying to make $3,100 dollars is pretty good.”
During the Badgers’ recent March Madness run to the Sweet 16, Bruesewitz and his hair received a lot of attention from TV announcers.
“My hair gets a lot of attention, but I’m hoping to bring awareness to a much more serious subject,” Bruesewitz said.
Since he did receive so much national recognition for his hair, Bruesewitz decided to make his haircut public for a cause.
“A couple people asked me if I could do something else for [my hair] since I received a lot of notoriety for it this year, Bruesewitz said. “There’s a big MS walk coming up and MS affects a lot of people. It’s affected a little bit of my family and a lot of my friends’ families.”
MS is a debilitating disease that affects the central nervous system and can cause hearing loss, blinding and even paralysis. It affects more than 400,000 people across the country. Nearly one in every 500 Wisconsin residents live with MS. The cost of living with MS can be expensive. The average cost for an individual living with MS is $69,000.
“It’s a challenging condition that affects peoples’ lives on a daily basis,” Bruesewitz said. “I’m honored to anything I can to make a difference.”
Shaving Bruesewitz’s head was teammate Jon Leuer.
“[Bruesewitz] just asked me if I wanted to help him out and it was for a good cause,” Leuer said. “I figured I could do my part.”
After the haircut was finally over, Bruesewitz had no regrets about losing his full head of hair.
“I’m happy to be a normal human being again and not have a big red afro,” Bruesewitz said. “It was fun while it lasted. It might come back eventually, we’ll see.”
The haircut was aired on WKOW-TV’s “Wake Up Wisconsin” from start to finish and can be seen here.
While no cure has been found for MS, extensive research is being done to find treatments and hopefully a cure one day.
Every hour of every day someone is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. To support Bruesewitz’s efforts towards MS research, donations are being accepted at wisMS.org.
Justin Mertes-Mistretta is a senior writer for TheSportsBank.net. Follow him on Twitter at MertesMist_tsb or read his blog here.