I was so proud and honored to be a part of team 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave in 2010, and I am thrilled to support the amazing Mommas who are stepping up to continue the campaign for $1 million in 2011.
This is the speech I gave at last year's event, which explains why we're doing what we're doing and why I decided to get involved:
"Welcome, all of you who are about to witness 46 Mommas from across the country who have gathered at this spot, at the Hollywood and Highland Complex in Los Angeles to SHAVE FOR THE BRAVE!!
My name is Amy Bucher, and I am the proud mother of three children. Arden, my first born, should have started kindergarten this year on August 30th. Instead, we visited her resting place in a beautiful memorial garden full of fragrant blooms to mark the 2nd anniversary of her death. She is forever 3 after battling stage IV, high risk Neuroblastoma from October 11, 2007 to August 30, 2008. Grayson, her younger brother, is now 3 1/2, and Zoey, who will only know her older sister through pictures, videos and our stories, turned 10 months old yesterday. My husband and I, along with our family and friends, work hard to achieve some sort of balance every day, managing our grief over losing our feisty, witty, loving little girl Arden, while also celebrating our blessings, knowing all too well how precious each moment with our loved ones is and how much we should cherish each day. We try to remember to appreciate the beauty around us, to embrace our wonderful memories of her while cherishing the present with our living children, trying hard not to dwell on the milestones we’ll never get to share with Arden or worry about the future. Some days, it’s a tricky balance to achieve. Other days, the people who surround us with thoughtful, caring support lift our hearts and spirits in ways we can’t describe.
Speaking of those caring supporters, you’re all looking fierce today! I’ve been contemplating that word for a couple of months now. Fierce.
It came to me when one of the Mommas on our team who manages our Facebook page asked us to chime in with one word that sums up how we will feel when we shave our heads together. Many of the words resonated with me.
Connected. As in, we will feel connected to our children who had to lose their hair to the treatments in which we placed our hopes.
Humbled. We were brought to our knees when a person in scrubs and a white coat -- whom many of us had just met hours before -- spoke the words that would change our lives forever, “Your child has Cancer.” Being bald in public is nothing compared to that feeling of utter helplessness when all a mother wants to do is make her child better.
Grateful. We would feel a rush of thankfulness for the time we’ve had, for our happy memories, and for the mommas of the children who are still fighting or are survivors, for the time they continue to share with their beautiful children. We would remember and appreciate all of the supporters who donated along the way, for those who stood by our mission and helped us spread the word, increasing awareness about the reality of childhood Cancer.
Honored. We feel honored to be a part of this team, a part of this movement of Mommas who are all from different walks of life, all involved in other foundations, uniting for one message, one cause.
And yes, I added, “fierce.”
Not that we are violent or hostile (although we are certainly angry at the diseases that threaten our children’s lives and the lack of treatment options and funding available to fight them), but that we are, as the definition states, “marked by unrestrained zeal or vehemence.”
We are intense, we feel our emotions intensely, and we are furiously active advocates, determined in our efforts to open the eyes of the public to the number one disease killer of our nation’s children. It doesn’t hurt that 46 bald women makes for quite a wild appearance. It’s definitely a bold statement. In reality shows featuring fashion of one sort or another, I’ve heard one word being used over and over again referring to something that is edgy, fresh, trendy (“That’s fierce”.) Perhaps going bald to raise funds for St. Baldrick’s will be the new “fierce.”
We’ve been told that we are brave to do this thing, shave our heads for all to see. Our kids had to be much braver as they endure countless needle sticks, iv insertions, scans, surgeries, radiation sessions, chemotherapy, infusions of blood, platelets and other meds, and long periods of isolation from family and friends.
Too many of us were told at one point and time in reference to our child that, “There’s nothing else we can do.” All of the Mommas here today know there is absolutely something we can do. We can share our stories, make our children’s voices heard, do what it takes to make the nation and the world aware that the current level of funding for childhood Cancer research is INTOLERABLE. We know that awareness leads to funding, which leads to cures. We know that only research specifically dedicated to kids cures kids’ cancer.
All of us are doing this in honor and in memory of our children, and in defense of yours. Maybe we will end up looking like “G.I. Jane” once the clippers have quieted, but that’s ok, for -- MOMMAS? “TODAY, WE FIGHT!!”
Thank you so much for being with us today. Please share what you have seen and heard here with your friends and family members, your neighbors, your co-workers. Please support the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, donate today, and together “Let’s Conquer” kids’ cancer!!"
