I can’t believe how quickly the time goes by. It has been almost a year since the last St. Baldrick’s event. And what an eventful year it has been! Here’s what has been going on in my world… One of my friends had her first baby; three of my friends got engaged; one of my brothers got married; my niece started high school; the son of one of my friends ended up at Children’s Hospital, giving us all a pretty good scare; I ended up at St. Joseph’s Hospital, giving everyone else a pretty good scare; one of my friends is expecting her first baby…and these are only some of the things that have been happening just in my world. Sometimes I find that I get so wrapped up in my own world that I forget that there’s an entire universe out there. A universe where one of every five children diagnosed with cancer will not survive. Thousands of children are diagnosed with cancer each year, and though the number of children who are cured is greater than it was 20 years ago, the loss of one child is one too many. 7 year old Justin was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma on Sept. 19, 2006 at 3 years old. He has officially begun the cancer fight for a third time in a little less than 5 years. Zoe looks like a 7-year-old girl without a care in the world. Her confident strut challenges that of any runway model. But behind an endearing laugh and assertive swagger is a girl whose wig conceals her bald head - a girl who has spent over eighteen months fighting for her life. Zoe has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), testing positive for the Philadelphia chromosome, a mutation of the cancer cells. It's a treatable cancer, but not a curable one - at least not yet. On March 24, 2009, 1 year old Liam was admitted to The Children's Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. He presented with excessive sweating, uncontrollable fever, jaundice, distended abdomen, lethargy, and he had stopped eating and drinking. On March 26, 2009, a diagnosis was finally reached: Hemophagocytic Lyphohistiocytosis (HLH). LIAM WENT UNDIAGNOSED FOR OVER 10 MONTHS! HLH is not cancer but is treated like it with chemotherapy and steroids. Liam would require a bone marrow transplant to have any chance of survival. Liam's transplant was successful with a 93% donor engraftment. However, likely due to a prolonged wait for his transplant, as well as complications post transplant, he earned his angel wings on 9.9.09. These are just of a few of so many stories about these amazing kids and their fight for survival. The St. Baldrick's Foundation has made more than 250 grants totaling over $55 million for childhood cancer research since 2005, its first year as a foundation. In 2010 alone, over $14 million was funded - more than by any other foundation making grants for research to cure childhood cancers. More grants will be distributed in the fall. Please help support me for my fourth year of shaving my head in solidarity with children who have cancer and typically lose their hair during treatment, while raising critical funds for childhood cancer research! Support can come in the way of a financial donation or joining me at Fado Irish Pub in Denver on March 11, 2011. The event will begin at 12pm and go until 6pm. Thank you in advance for all of your ongoing support. I couldn’t do this without your help! Thank you, Meghann