This coming Friday, April 7th, I am going to show my support for children with cancer and the St. Baldrick’s organization by shaving my head. I know what you are probably thinking… “Wow!"… "That seems a bit aggressive"…. "Why would you ever do that?” I know it is seems a little dramatic, but sometimes you have to be dramatic to catch people’s attention and get an important message out to the world. To be honest, the idea of shaving my head scares the hell out of me, but I am doing this for a good reason, and I know this is the right thing to do.

A child is diagnosed with cancer every two minutes. Among the things that these children lose during their illness, many of these children often lose their hair. Compared to other consequences of a cancer diagnosis, the loss of hair seems secondary, but it can actually create a serious emotional burden for these patients, as every glance into the mirror reminds them of their disease. The St. Baldric’s event will be attended by many current and former pediatric cancer patients from Georgetown hospital and the point of shaving is to help remove the negative connotations associated with the shaved look, and have kids take pride in how they look.

I came to medical school because I want to devote my life to making people enjoy life more. If something as trivial and temporary as shaving my head can help someone feel more comfortable in their own skin then I will do that in a heart beat. However, removing the stigma from a cancer diagnosis is not enough, and a large part of returning the joy of life to these pediatric patients revolves around giving them an opportunity to LIVE. So on top of participating in the shaving ceremony next week, I am also raising money for the St. Baldrick’s foundation to help fund pediatric cancer research. Despite the existence of numerous fantastic cancer fundraising and research campaigns, the vast majority of the efforts are spent focusing on the development of cancer treatments for adult patients. Often times these treatments are contraindicated in pediatric populations, and so we find ourselves ignoring the population of patients who are the most vulnerable, and have the most to lose.