Hi all – this is the 13th time I am “shaving the way to a cure” with St. Baldricks. I think my annual outreach has gotten so common place that I have not taken the time to share why I started and why I continue….so I wanted to once again share our story as a reminder on why I return to this battle every year.
In 2007, our oldest son Connor was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. When we heard those 4 painful words “your child has cancer”, we were overwhelmed. We felt helpless and powerless, wrestling with the question “what can we do?” Thankfully, in the first few weeks we saw posters promoting upcoming events with an organization called St. Baldricks where you shave your head to raise money for childhood cancer research. My wife had always said that if one of our children had to go bald, she would too in order to stand in solidarity with them. When we saw St Baldricks, we recognized an opportunity to not only stand in solidarity with Connor but also raise money to fight childhood cancers. And even more significant, we got our answer to “what can we do”. St Baldricks turned out to be a great blessing for our family as it helped us get outside of ourselves and our fear, misery, and pain and helped us focus our energy on the battle against child hood cancers. We felt like we were doing something to fight back, and the shift in focus helped us rally a community of friends and family. The events also provided some fun as well -shaving heads, drinking pints, making a difference! We did our first event within 30 days of Connor’s diagnosis and he was even invited to shave the head of Carolina Hurricanes Goalie Cam Ward (fresh off his rookie campaign and being awarded the Con Smythe Trophy). This was extra special for Connor as he was a hockey player him self and often joked about how his cancer’s acronym was NHL. This is why we started.
Now….why do I continue? First off, Connor had a great outcome because of those who went before us(and I like to think faith, community support, and St Baldricks helped). He is now healthy and cancer free, and even decided on his career as a chef when he was going through cancer treatments. He would watch Food Channel in the hospital and decide what to cook when he got discharged…it became a family bonding tradition and ultimately a career! However, continuing St Baldricks is more than just paying it forward. During our family’s journey we experienced first hand the losses other families experienced. One of Connor’s first friends, a 10 year old from Clinic, died through complications from a bone marrow transplant. The infant daughter of the regional promoter for St Baldricks never made it to a 2nd birthday. I honor these two children on my St Baldricks page every year. And so many other families have not had the outcome we were blessed to have, and thousands more will hear those awful words…..so I continue the fight against childhood cancer and ask you to join us once again. Here below is my link, and you will also find a team name if you want to join. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for considering providing support for this mission.