Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King, Jr. In the short year and a half that I have been a pediatric oncologist, I have had the distinct privilege of caring for so many amazing children and young adults. These kids have demonstrated strength and courage beyond their years in dealing with the many trials of cancer therapy. While there have been some truly incredible advances in the field of pediatric oncology in the past 40 years, we still have a very long way to go. I still have to tell parents that, even with the best possible treatments we have, their child only has a 30-40% chance of survival. And even for those children with more curable malignancies, the toxicities of therapy can be great and the long-term side effects are often significant. By shaving my head I hope to, in some small way, aid in the pursuit of better, more tolerable therapies for childhood cancer both by raising money and by increasing awareness of this need. I also want to demonstrate my commitment to this worthy cause. If I can accomplish these goals, it will certainly have been a worthwhile gesture.