Every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer! Yes, every two minutes!
If you have seen what this disease does, you know that nobody, especially a child, deserves this fate.
I'm shaving my head, for the 6th time, to raise money for childhood cancer research. My seven year old son, David, will be joining me for his 5th year! My nine year old daughter, Payton, is joining us for the first time this year to donate her hair! We are all excited to continue to be a part of this amazing event!
I came to embrace this worthwhile cause because my friend, Libby Miller, did it on the spur of the moment the year before I started. Her first shave just happened to be at the time our good friend, Marcia Clanton, was fighting against the cancer that took her from us a little while later. I promised Libby that I would participate the next year (2014) ... and I did ... and I will continue to do so!
I have been blessed thus far to not have been touched by childhood cancer in a child who is in my family ... but I did know a courageous young man, who had childhood cancer, when I was growing up; his sister was my age and has always been a very good friend. I have also known a couple of students, who have had cancer, during my 20+ years as a School Counselor.
I have been "beaten up hard" many times by adult cancer when people I loved were not able to overcome the power, devastation, and evil of cancer AND my kiddos have also known loss from cancer: Amis (1985), Aunt Helen (1981), Brian, Lavinia (1993), Ray (1997), Jackie (2002), Mike (2004), Janice (2005), Aunt Cindy (2005), Major (2005), Anne (2006), Cathy (2007), Papa Dump (2009), Donna Kay (2009), Alan (2011), Coach Greg (2011), Marcia (2013), Uncle Gerald (2014), Aunt Shannon (2015), and Robert (2015).
I am very blessed to know some cancer survivors: Marquel, Connie, Kim, Sandra, Ruth, Dr. Pat, Dr. Bill, Phyllis ... and probably many more that I'm not even aware of.
Kids' cancers are different from adult cancers and childhood cancer research is extremely underfunded. I believe that cancer research of any kind is a step towards finding a cure for all types of cancer so I have made the decision to support children and am honored to participate in Savannah's St. Baldrick's Day shaving for the 6th year ... with many more to come!
Now what are you going to do? Yes, that is a challenge! Donate ... Join our team ... Pass our information and request on to everyone you know ... Join and cheer us on. Thank you for any and everything you are able to do to support us in our mission of love! Tag ... You're it!