Why am I shaving my head, and why should you care?
My good friends Dale and Sue Kittles lost their beautiful daughter Lauren before her 16th birthday. I'm shaving my head to be in solidarity with the children who are battling cancer. Please help support this worthy cause by donating so we can find a cure.
This FLASHBACK gives you a sense of the strength of this incredible young lady Lauren.
This was a Facebook post from
Ivan C. Baughman
FLASHBACK: 2010 St. Baldrick’s of Columbia’s 4th annual event. I was working a bit late one evening when my phone rang. The voice introduced herself as Lauren Kittles. Lauren was a 15 year old cancer patient at Palmetto Health Richland Children’s Hospital. She had seen a flyer promoting our upcoming event and thought St. Baldrick’s was one of the most awesome things she had ever heard of…and she just had to be a part of it. Can you believe she even apologized that she couldn’t be a shavee that year because she was already bald? I’ve never encountered a more beautiful spirit! Lauren was so excited and so enthusiastic and so inspiring. She called me again to tell me that her father was setting up a shavee team and they were calling themselves “Lauren’s Eagles”. She giggled and said, “Because eagles are bald…like me!” Lauren was a huge hit at the event! She personally shaved the heads of all 11 of her eagles…including her father. She told the crowd her story and how the cancer was now gone. But a few months after the event, the beast returned! That’s when I learned that Ewing Sarcoma has a decent survival rate…the first time. The survival rate of a relapse is basically zero. 9/7 is Lauren’s birthday and, from our perspective, she is forever 15 as she now celebrates her birthdays with us from heaven. Shortly before this date in 2010 a party was being planned for her 16th. Lauren had her party several weeks early because the family was advised not to wait. Lauren passed on 8/29/10. I attended her memorial service in Greenwood, SC on 9/1...my birthday. There was nowhere else that I would have been on that day. Although Lauren was only able to physically attend one of our events, the love in her spirit will be with us always and every year her father still leads “Lauren’s Eagles” to Columbia as we continue the fight to bring an end to all childhood cancers.
A challenge among friends 25 years ago has become the largest volunteer movement to Conquer Kids’ Cancer. This year, I’m joining thousands of others to shave my head to raise money for childhood cancer research!
Did you know, 1 in 5 kids diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. won’t survive? For those who do, more than 96% have severe or life-threatening conditions by the time they are 50.
Each shaved head, every dollar donated, creates a ripple effect of progress for kids with cancer.
Your gift will give kids and their families hope, supporting the best research across the country, through the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Together, let’s give these kids the lifetime they deserve. Thank you for your support!
