The Online Reflector

Former University of Indianapolis student Megan Meadors, who is currently a cheerleader for the Indianapolis Colts and a practicing occupational therapist for American Senior Communities, had her hair shaved on Nov. 25 at Lucas Oil Stadium during the Colts game against the Buffalo Bills.

Meadors, who received her occupational therapy degree in 2009 from UIndy, agreed to have her hair shaved by the Colts mascot, Blue, if the Colts were able to raise $10,000 for leukemia research at the IU Health Simon Cancer Center by the day of the game.

Meadors said that although this idea was created by the mascot, the idea had crossed her mind well before then.

“I had a dream about five months ago, before the football fever started, that I let Blue shave my head at the last game, which would have been the Texans game, and raised money for cancer,” Meadors said. “My teammates thought it was an awesome idea and that I should talk to my coach about it. But then some people in my personal life said that they thought it might be a little bit too extreme and that people might think it was crazy. So I never talked to my coach about it.”

When the opportunity presented itself, however, Meadors did not hesitate.

“When Blue sent out that tweet [that challenged cheerleaders to shave off their hair if $10,000 was raised], I thought that this was something that I had to do,” she said. “I thought that it was a sign.”

Meadors and Blue partnered during the week before the game to raise money. By the day of the game, with the help of many individuals and corporate sponsors, they had exceeded their goal by doubling the amount that they had set.

Meadors said that she was pleasantly surprised by how much money was raised and that the total kept rising.

Prior to having her head shaved, Meadors said that the one thing she was most nervous about was what people’s reactions might have been prior to the game, keeping in mind what the people in her personal life had told her before.

“Once we got a really positive response and the donations started pouring in, I was really calm about it, even when I was getting my head shaved,” Meadors said. “When that moment was happening, I was just really focused on not being too emotionally overwhelmed by the crowd before it. Because 65,000 fans were in one stadium focused on my head of hair, standing on their feet cheering so loud and there was a wall of cameras.”

Following the game,  Meadors said that having all the media focused on her was both overwhelming and exciting, but that the people she served in her community services were what counted most to her.

“Those are the things that I am really excited about, because those are the things that I will remember,” Meadors said. “I’m not going to really remember what magazines I was in or what TV shows I was on. I’m going to remember the people I met. So that’s what I am most excited about.”

Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts Chuck Pagano, who is currently battling leukemia, also reached out to Meadors during all the attention she was receiving.

“That was definitely unexpected because it was something that I was not waiting for, because he is going through chemotherapy and the biggest battle of his life. There is no need for him to reach out to me,” Meadors said. “He actually did send me a text message, a pretty lengthy one, the day before Thanksgiving and the day before the game, just thanking me for doing this, and talking about his mantra on team and community, and wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving. It was just really sweet of him to do, because he did not have to do that.”

Director and assistant professor of the School in Occupational Therapy Kate DeCleene said that Meadors was a hard-working student at UIndy. According to DeCleene, Meadors was involved with the community back then as well.

“Megan was an outstanding student. She went above and beyond in everything she did in the classroom,” DeCleene said.  “She was always volunteering for Riley, different children’s camps and at different runs or walks for different charities.”

DeCleene said that the school had been following Meadors in all she was doing that week, and they were not surprised by what Meadors did because of how giving of a person she is.

“I hope Megan’s leadership inspires many more people to step out there and be leaders in different ways and to do things that might be scary but could inspire other people,” DeCleene said.

Meadors attributed Meadors’ care for the community to UIndy and said that what she did during her time here has helped her be a better person.

“I think that my education at the university really helped to instill… the importance of service in me after graduation to continue with community service. Not just to get my head shaved, but [to] work at Habitat for Humanity and do different things like that because of the university,” Meadors said. “So I just wanted to thank the university for helping me to become a better person who wants to serve others.”