In about two weeks, my head of 20+ inches of hair will be shaved, and donated, in efforts to raise money for childhood cancer research.             

It is hard to find someone whose life has not been impacted by cancer, whether it be a friend, neighbor, family member, or even themself. 

Last May, a family friend of ours, Jacob lost his battle to cancer. He was a year younger than me and was a pretty normal guy. He liked sports (he even played some of the same sports as me like lacrosse), he dressed handsomely, and he was funny. We would spend holidays together and eat really good filipino food.

Yet for as long as I knew him, he was battling this illness. 

Sometimes when we sat at the dinner table on those holidays, it was good news in which the cancer was weakening. Yet other holidays it would be bad news-a chilling sense of fear that would linger around the supposed jolly days as his cancer worsened. 

When Jacob's cancer got really bad, I remember going to his house with a lot of other people he loved and those who loved him (very many), and it was hard. He was no longer the Jacob I knew from afar from all those holidays, and I witnessed his closest family and friends suffering immensely and not being able to do anything to change the inevitable outcome.

Jacob died May 13, 2016. That was only a couple days after his friends from school surprised him by going to his house, when he was too sick to do much, in their Prom outfits to take pictures with Jacob to commemorate their Junior Prom that he wouldn't be able to attend.

It's true that I haven't personally experienced cancer, and none of my closest friends have. Yet my relationship with Jacob has shown me the dark and overpowering nature of cancer and has made appreciate the fact that up to this point, in my first year of college, I am blessed with health, something in which some of us take for granted until it begins to diminish.

Now I need your help.

 Please make a donation and spread the link so we can make as big as an impact as possible.

 Every dollar does make a difference for the thousands of infants, children, teens, and young adults fighting childhood cancers.

Thank you for your support, it is just that in our humanity that gives strength to those who are fighting to preserve their lives.