My first time participating in St. Baldrick's was 2019. I shaved my head in honor of a friend's son battling ALL. Little did I know that just 2 weeks later, my own daughter Mia would be diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. At just 3.5 years old, she had to fight for her life. 5 cycles of high dose chemo, countless surgeries, 2 bone marrow transplants, 12 rounds of radiation, 6 months of excruciating immunotherapy, and then 2 years of maintenance therapy, and she has finally finished treatment.
Most little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, Mia however is full of fuss and cuss and fairy dust. She's now 7 years old and in 1st grade. Her body is covered with scars from surgery, and tattoos from radiation. She wears hearing aids because of the toxicity of the chemo. Her hair is still short due to the meds she had to take, but she doesn't let any of that phase her. She wears it all with pride and enjoys telling her story.
While Mia's journey was tough, we have been lucky to still have her. We lost so many little warriors since we started this journey. Innocent lives that didn't need to be cut short. So each year I will shave my head to raise money for these kids, in hopes that someday there will be less harsh treatments, and eventually a cure.
Kids with cancer need our support now more than ever. St. Baldrick’s is the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research grants, and the pandemic has slashed donations, slowing down the progress to find cures.
Cancer kills more of our kids than any other disease. Research can change that, and I don’t want to let these kids down. Can you help? Thank you so much!