Hello Friends. 2018 will mark the 6th consecutive time that I have participated as a "shavee" in the McHenry Community Shave in support of the St. Baldrick's Foundation and their fight against childhood cancer.  Since 2009, the McHenry Community Shave has accomplished the following:

$1,206,134.00 raised for pediatric cancer research

$162,735.93 raised for local families with pediatric cancer (tshirt sales)

Nearly 4,500 heads have been shaved in the last 9 years

Over 300 ponytails have been donated over the past 3 years

I have committed to continuing to participate in this event in honor of my friend Hope Fuller and her family. This year's event is Thursday, March 22nd.  Hope was a brilliant young lady who was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) on July 29, 2009 at the age of 12 - yes, 12. I still remember the numbness that I felt when I heard the news of this diagnosis, looked it up online, and read these words - "Unfortunately, the survival rate for DIPG remains very low. At this time there is no cure for this tumor." March 10, 2010, 224 days after diagnosis, Hope died. Here we are 7 years later and there is still no cure for DIPG. Every day I get stories on my Facebook feed of kids fighting the DIPG fight with the same outcome as Hope. Every day I read the pleas of moms and dads, relatives, friends, looking for that cure, that one hope that somewhere, someone, somehow, has survived DIPG. But we can't quit now. Just because the cure wasn't here yesterday for Hope, or today for kids with DIPG, doesn't mean that it won't come tomorrow, or the next day, and that is why I will continue to help raise awareness, and money, for St. Baldrick's. Please take a moment and read Hope's story on my St. Baldrick's page and, if you can, make a contribution - not TO me, but in Hope's memory and for all the kids fighting DIPG today. Thanks. D