Media Stories

Sheboygan Family Working To Raise Money for Child Cancer Research

Featured on: Sheboygan Press 

Article By: Janet Ortegon

If you're not sure whether you should donate to the St. Baldrick's event — whether the money, which goes to cancer research, will really do any good — just spend a few minutes with Pattie Tarnowski and her son, Michael.

Four months ago, Michael donated bone marrow for the second time to his little sister, Anna, who has acute myeloid leukemia.

The Tarnowski family — parents Jim and Pattie and Michael, 12, Anna, 7, and Rachel, 5 — know all about cancer research and are trying to get the St. Baldrick's Foundation every penny they can.

St. Baldrick's is a nonprofit group that has raised $74 million to fight childhood cancer since its founding in 2000. Volunteers raise money for the privilege of having their heads shaved. And so far this year, volunteers and "shavees" have raised more than $11 million for childhood cancer research worldwide.

In Sheboygan, the event will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 21, at Urbane, 1231 N. Eighth St.

Michael Tarnowski formed a team, called "Anna's Rainbow," to raise money for St. Baldrick's — he, his dad, his grandpa, Anna's best friend in second grade and several other members of the team will get their heads shaved to show their solidarity with Anna.

Cancer research can be a vague and far-away cause, unless your child is fighting for her life.

"We've learned a lot over last two years," Pattie Tarnowski said. "A lot of what we've learned is the research being done makes a difference every day.

"Our goal is that, God forbid, she relapse in three years, they'll have made that much more progress," Pattie Tarnowski said. "That which they couldn't do today, they will be able to do then. It could really make a difference. We see some of that, we've talked to some of those parents at Children's Hospital — if their kids had been two years earlier in their diagnosis, they would've been doomed and now they're not because of the research that's been done."

Michael has raised $500 on his own, and Jim Tarnowski set up a table at Kohler Co., where he works, and brought in $1,600 in donations in one day, Pattie Tarnowski said.

"It gives us goose bumps to think all those people donated," she said.

Anna Tarnowski is the event's "honorary child," the first time the local St. Baldrick's Day has had its own poster child. Urbane owner Dennis Radtke said having her as part of the event has already had an effect.

"It's made a huge difference in our event," Radtke said. "We're over double the size of last year. Some of it has to do with Anna, yeah, and her mother Pattie."

Last year, 18 people got shaved and the event raised $19,000 in one day, Radtke said. This year, at least 36 signed up to get shaved.

"We're hoping that results in double the money," he said. "Our goal this year is $30,000 and we're hoping to exceed that, which is great for a community this size. It's a really simple, easy, people-understand-it thing to do, yet it makes powerful impact on raising money for research. It's just a fun thing to do."

Mayor Bob Ryan is a member of "Anna's Rainbow," and announced several weeks ago that he was going to raise $10,000 and get his head shaved.

With just three days to go, he wasn't anywhere near $10,000 — as of Thursday morning he had almost $2,000 — but said he's ready to go under the razor anyway.

"That $10,000, I kind of threw out there as an arbitrary figure," Ryan said. "You always shoot high. If I can get anywhere near (the goal), I'll do the beard and eyebrows too. No, not the eyebrows."

Ryan said he knows the Tarnowski family as well as another local family battling childhood cancer, so the issue hits close to home.

"I have children myself and God, I don't know what I'd do," he said.

Staff members from Entourage Salon and Spa will be doing the shaving, and Urbane will have free food available for participants, Radtke said.