Dear family and friends, The third year of medical school is difficult. The expectations are high, the work seemingly insurmountable at times, and we become accustomed to having illness and death around us every day. The long hours, fatigue, and demands of medical work wear away at the enthusiasm, compassion, and excitement with which we initially entered medical school and we work vigorously to learn the standard treatment protocols for managing disease. We memorize these treatments and protocols; get tested on them; and are evaluated based on our ability to implement them. But what happens when standard treatment protocols are not enough? This is the current situation for childhood cancer. In the US, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. We have some great treatments to help prolong life and some childhood cancers are more curable than others, but the medical community still needs to learn a lot more in hopes of one day being able to cure all types of childhood cancers and, hopefully, cancer in all age-groups. If possible, please consider donating whatever you can to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. I will be shaving my head in solidarity with children who have cancer and typically lose their hair during treatment. Please consider donating to this worthy cause. You'll be doing a great thing to help raise critical funds for childhood cancer research and all donations are tax-deductible! By making a donation to support childhood cancer research, you will be helping scientists who are working hard to find cures. Anything you can contribute will be greatly appreciated! (Even if it’s just $5! Something is better than nothing, and would mean we’re a couple dollars closer to finding these much needed cures.) Here is the link to the donation page: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/530805/2012 Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Sebastian Rubino 3rd Year Medical Student Dartmouth Medical School P.S.- If anyone is interested in participating by shaving their head as well, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. It’s very easy, fun, and a great cause in which to get involved!