I am thrilled and honored to participate in the 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave event in 2014. Last year I was part of the 2013 Canadian team, and it was an incredible experience.
My daughter, Tegan, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on August 13,2011. She was 2.5 years old at the time. After 26 months and 11 days, Tegan officially finished treatment on October 24,2013. She is a bright and spirited 5 year old now, and living every moment of her chemo and cancer free life to the fullest!!
Tegan struggles (and is recovering!) with leg and foot weakness due to the chemo treatment, and has required splints for nearly 2 years. She has been tested through her school, and the results have shown she is at risk to develop some cognitive impairments, mainly memory recall. This is chemotherapy induced cognitive impairments. These are effects she continues to fight even though she is done treatment. She battled through various medical complications throughout her treatment, but is "in the clear" for those issues and is headed towards a healthy life.
I chose to participate as a 2014 Momma, because I am passionate about raising awareness for childhood cancers, as they are incredibly underfunded for ground breaking research. We need to find a cure!! I want to honor my daughter and her fight. She's too young to remember much of her journey, but I hope my actions can remind her that she is my inspiration because of what she has overcome.
Please help me meet my goal. $100 for every month Tegan went through treatment. All money will stay here in Canada, with St. Baldricks collaboration with Childhood Cancer Canada.
Why am I having my head shaved? To stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer, who typically lose their hair during treatment. More importantly, I'm doing it to raise funds for childhood cancer research!
Worldwide, more than 160,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. In Canada, there are 10,000 kids fighting cancer, and about 1500 will be diagnosed in the coming year. Let's fund the research that will find the cure!!
