Jerry Coulter, a co-worker of mine, challenged me to raise money for St. Baldrick's foundation. He had a great time at the event last year and the money raised goes toward curing cancer in children. I told him if he could raise $500, I'd do it. He didn't even blink and he had $150. I was a little frightened of getting rid of my long curly locks because I know what my hair looks like when it's short. So I raised it to $1000. The next part was trying to figure out who I could honor while cutting my hair. At first I couldn't think of any child, I knew, having cancer. Then I remembered a posting on my cousin's Facebook page asking people to pray for baby Ezra. Ezra Matthews was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma at the age of 13 months. After a long battle, Ezra passed away a little over a year later. Check out his story at http://becauseofezra.com/. Then I thought more about it. Two years ago, I drove to CT with a co-worker to attend the funeral of Isaias Valentin. We'd get updates about his battle with acute myelongenous leukemia but eventually he lost his battle too. He was four days away from turning 10 years old. The Strike 3 Foundation gives out an award in Isaias name and the gave $500,000 to the Yale-New Haven Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplant program. "God saw you were getting tired and a cure was not to be, So He put his arms around you and whispered, "Come to Me". With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you passed away. Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay. A golden heart stop beating, hard working hands at rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best." I can't think of a better way to honor both children than raising money to cure cancer. Please join me in stopping this disease from taking the lives of other children. Thanks, Shannon