Jake Schied knows he will probably lose his hair sometime in the next couple of months, but he also knows he won’t go through the process alone.

On July 22, hundreds of local kids—and one mom—shaved their heads in solidarity with Jake, an 8-year-old Beverly resident who for the past seven years has been fighting retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye that begins in the retina.

Dubbed the “Do It For Jake” head-shaving party, the event raised money for the Ronald McDonald House near Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn.

Diagnosed with retinoblastoma in September 2007, Jake has endured multiple surgeries and bouts of radiation and chemotherapy treatments over the years, often traveling with his family to and from the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia for the procedures.

In May 2008, Jake’s left eye was removed; four years later, the disease and treatment reduced the vision in his right eye to just shadows. Last month, he lost all remaining vision when doctors removed his right eye after finding another tumor near the optic nerve.

As a precaution, Jake is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for four months to rid the area of any microscopic pieces of tumor that may remain.

With one treatment already behind him, Jake is off to a good start, said his mother Beth Schied.

“He was really sick after the first treatment, but the next day he was out there jumping with his friends on the trampoline,” Beth said. “He’s been running around ever since.”

The youngest of Beth and Chris Schied’s four children, Jake is seemingly unfazed by the most recent curveball thrown his way, his mom said.

“He cried when we told him that he was going to have his eye removed, but now he’s fine,” Beth said. “He asked his doctor if he would ever see again; she told him that she is going to continue her work of helping people see again, and when she does, he would be first in line.”

In the meantime, Jake will continue to attend Mt. Greenwood Elementary School, where he learns Braille and is “thriving,” Beth said. He will also continue to hang with his pals from the neighborhood, who treat their friend with a kindness and patience that is never patronizing.

“It’s nothing to his friends,” Beth said. “He’s just one of the guys.”

With multiple recurrences of the retinoblastoma, the road to becoming cancer free has been long and arduous for Jake and his family, which includes siblings Matt, 16, Bryan, 14, and Stefanie, 13, Beth said.

“Jake went three years without cancer, but since July 2011, when they found another tumor, we’ve been on this cancer-free/cancer cycle seven times,” Beth said. “It’s exhausting.”

Fortunately, Jake is able to receive his current chemotherapy treatment at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago instead of traveling to Philadelphia, Beth said, which helps reduce a lot of the stress.

“It’s been hard on the kids,” she said. “But our kids have great friends.”

That support was certainly apparent on July 22, Beth said, as participants donned T-shirts that read “You have a friend in me” and lined up to have their heads shaved.

“We had seven shavers, and they estimated they did about 20 heads each,” Beth said. “Then there were other people who were pulling up, dropping off money and leaving.”

Altogether, Beth said, the event raised close to $4,000 for the Ronald McDonald House, which provides temporary lodging for families while their seriously ill children receive treatment at a hospital.

Beverly resident Margie Gallagher was among those who left the event sporting a new ’do. Her son Danny and Jake are best friends, she said, and shaving her head was her way of letting Jake know how much he means to Danny and the rest of the Gallagher Family.

“Jake helped buzz my head, and he giggled and laughed through the whole thing; he was in his glory,” Gallagher said. “All the kids wanted to touch my head afterward, but I made sure Jake got to feel it first.”

With Jake’s next chemotherapy treatment scheduled for Aug. 11, Beth said she appreciates the community’s help in keeping Jake’s spirits lifted.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s a testament to this neighborhood and the way people rally. So many people have been on this journey with us for the past seven years; when you need someone, they’re there.”