I'm shaving my head to raise money for childhood cancer research.  I'm generally not a vain person, but my hair is my tell-tale trait, and over time I've grown to love my mop head of curls.  So you should know that shaving my head is not something I am taking lightly.  

I am asking you to chip in and support me in this journey.  By donating, you're donating to support the futures of little kids who otherwise may not have a future.  Please give generously!

When I was a young girl, my little brother spent a week in the hospital after his appendix ruptured.  I remember it was a stressful, anxiety-inducing time for my family, but even more clearly, I remember my brother's roommate, a cute kiddo with some sort of pediatric cancer, and my mom calming herself by saying something along the lines of, "it could be worse."  

We shouldn't have to say that it could be worse.  We shouldn't have to worry about little kids suffering from cancer and little kids not making it to adulthood.  

Although I've been lucky enough not to have childhood cancer directly affect my immediate family, I've seen it directly affect my friends' kids.  And luckily, my friends' kids are currently in remission and are alive and well.  They are thriving, happy kiddos, and I pray that their cancer experiences are behind them.  

But tragically, that hasn't been true for every kid.  I love a TV show called Catastrophe.  It's witty, somewhat crass, and happened to feature Carrie Fisher as a recurring character.  But I mention it here because the lead actor, Rob Delaney, lost his son to cancer a couple years ago.  I didn't even realize, but one day I came across the heartwrenching piece he wrote in memory of his little guy, Henry.  If you've gotten this far, you should really click on this link and check out his post: https://medium.com/@robdelaney_50150/note-i-wrote-all-of-this-except-the-last-paragraph-in-april-or-may-of-2017-6b8f5e702533

EDIT: Shortly after I wrote this page and started fundraising, this piece was published in the local paper, following the passing of young Finn Schafran.  It's a powerful reminder of the resilience families can have in the face of devastating loss, and highlights their power to push for juvenile cancer research: https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/01/after-a-rare-cancer-kills-their-child-a-family-pleads-for-more-research.html

Anyway, I decided to do something about it by raising money for a cure, and I'm pretty sure shaving my head is the only viable option I have to fundraise at this point.

So I need your help! Will you make a donation? Every dollar makes a difference for the thousands of infants, children, teens, and young adults fighting childhood cancers.