New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead took part in St. Baldrick's Day at Finn McCool's Irish Pub in Mid-City on Saturday as he had his head and beard shaved to help raise money and awareness for kids cancer.
Hundreds turned out to watch Morstead and others have their heads shaved. It's the fourth consecutive year that Finn McCool's hosted St. Baldrick's Day and the second consecutive year Morstead participated. Going into this year's event Finn McCool's had raised more than $71,000 and was hoping to surpass $100,000.
Morstead's wife, Lauren, wielded the shears for the initial snip before letting a professional, Jeanne Vidrine, finish the job.
Morstead gave a moving speech talking about how important fighting cancer is to him. Morstead lost one of his best friends, James, to cancer last month after he battled the disease for seven years. James was 21.
"I just want to say thank you for being out here, whether you donated a dollar, $10 or $1,000," Morstead said. "This all goes to St. Baldrick's, which is all funding for childhood cancer research. ... This is great, this is New Orleans, everybody out here supporting everybody and raising money for something that hopefully one day can be gone forever."
