Every two minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer! Yes, every two minutes!
If you have seen what this disease does, you know that nobody, especially a child, deserves this fate.
I'm shaving my head, for the fourth time, to raise money for childhood cancer research and my five year old son, David, will be joining me for his third year! (My seven year old daughter, Payton, doesn't do more than a trim or she would be up there with us too! She will excitedly cheer us on and take pictures again this year!)
I came to embrace this worthwhile cause because my friend, Libby Miller, did it on the spur of the moment four years ago ... her first shave just happened to be at the time our good friend, Marcia Clanton, was fighting against the cancer that took her from us a little while later. I promised Libby that I would participate the next year (2014) ... and I did ... and I will continue to do so!
I have been blessed thus far to not have been touched by childhood cancer in a child who is in my family ... but I did know a courageous young man, who had childhood cancer, when I was growing up; his sister was my age and has always been a very good friend. I have also known a couple of students, who have had cancer, during my 20+ years as a School Counselor. I have been pushed further to this cause by three young men I have "met" and been inspired by on Facebook: Silas, AJ, and Ethan.
I have been "beaten up hard" many times by adult cancer when people I loved were not able to overcome the power, devastation, and evil of cancer: Amis (1985), Aunt Helen (1981), Brian, Lavinia (1993), Ray (1997), Jackie (2002), Mike (2004), Janice (2005), Aunt Cindy (2005), Major (2005), Anne (2006), Cathy (2007), Papa Dump (2009), Donna Kay (2009), Alan (2011), Coach Greg (2011), Marcia (2013), Uncle Gerald (2014), Aunt Shannon (2015), and Robert (2015).
I am very blessed to know some cancer survivors: Marquel, Connie, Kim, Sandra, Annette, Dr. Pat, Dr. Bill ... and probably many more that I'm not even aware of.
Recently, I learned that Dr. Bill is fighting cancer for the second time. I also learned that another "close" person has just been diagnosed.
Kids' cancers are different from adult cancers and childhood cancer research is extremely underfunded. I believe that cancer research of any kind is a step towards finding a cure for all types of cancer so I have made the decision to support children and am honored to participate in Savannah's St. Baldrick's Day shaving for the fourth year ... with many more to come!
Now what are you going to do? Yes, that is a challenge! Donate ... Join our team ... Pass our information and request on to everyone you know ... Join and cheer us on at City Market on Saturday, March 25th. Thank you for any and everything you are able to do to support us in our mission of love! Tag ... You're it!
