Year number TWO! Why am I shaving my head...again? Well, not only is it a tremendous cause, but my sister, Dawn, has been a pediatric oncology nurse for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta since 1995. She asked me to attend a St. Baldrick's event at Fado two years ago and I was so overwhelmed with the people who volunteer to get their heads shaved that I decided that I was going to do it the following year. This year will be my second year participating as a "shavee".
Here are a few more reasons that made me decide to continue to be a "shavee". One, it's a terrific cause and I am proud to be doing it for a second year. Two, my mother, Betty, is a Breast Cancer Survivor, so I have been personally affected by Cancer and I am sure you have known someone or even had a loved one who has been affected in some way by this dreadful disease. Lastly, many of you may remember that last year I participated in St. Baldrick's in honor of an amazing little boy named Ryan Morgan. Ryan was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a very aggressive form of pediatric cancer in 2004 at the age of 5. Ryan went through many rounds of chemotherapy, 2 bone marrow transplants, multiple treatments of radiation, and several relapses. Ryan fought very hard against this disease, but lost his battle in July of last year, just 2 days after his mother lost her own battle with breast cancer. This year I will be participating in St. Baldrick's in Ryan's memory, in hopes of raising awareness so that another family will hopefully never have to go through the pain of a cancer diagnosis. Pediatric cancer needs research in order to continue to make strides in curing this disease, and in order to do that they also need funding. So I am asking for your help in achieving my goal to raise $3,000 to help St. Baldrick's fund cancer research. So what I am asking is for you to open your hearts and your wallets to donate to help fight childhood Cancer. Last year I set a goal of $2,500 (which some thought was little high, but I thought it was attainable). Well, I beat that goal by raising $2,900. Please help me help these children by beating my goal of $3,000!! Also, I am inviting each of you to come down to Fado in Buckhead on March 12th to watch me and many others get scalped for a great cause and experience first hand what a great cause it truly is. I hope to see you all there!!
As we face these tough economic times, I appreciate your recognition that childhood cancer is even tougher. I truly appreciate the ones who were so generous last year and I hope I can count on you again this year. For the ones who I am contacting for the first time, I hope can also count on you to help me raise money for a great cause.
