Believe it or not I am going to have my head shaved for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. St. Baldrick's is an international organization that has raised $34,000,000 over the last 9 years to support Pediatric Cancer Research. UIC/Rush/Stroger have received $ 310,000 over the last 3 years which has allowed us to offer the Children's Oncology Group Clinical Trials to infants, children, adolescents and young adult patients with cancer. Participation in these trials not only offers our patients their best chance for a cure, but allows researchers from around the world access to tumor samples to design better and safer treatments for future patients. We would not have had the resources to open the Clinical Trials and manage them within all of the IRB and National Cancer Institute Guidelines without this support. We are very proud of our cancer program and very grateful to the St. Baldrick's Foundation for their partnership. St. Baldrick's raises money and awareness by recruiting people to havetheir heads shaved after receiving donations from family and friends. We have had 3 yearly head shaving media events at UIC where our patients have shaved a few nurses and doctors on TV. This has helped the media get the word out for events which occurred in March at other sites around the city. Last year the Chicagoland area raised $ 1.7 million of the $ 13 million raised world-wide! This year we are have decided to have a full fledged event of our own. We are looking for Shavees, Barbers, and volunteers for the UIC/Rush/Stroger event on February 28th from 8-11am at UIC medical Center room 1130. We have plenty of patients who are ready to turn the tables on us and shave our heads! If you are interested in supporting me just go to the St. Baldrick's website at www.stbaldricks.org and click on the UIC Medical Center Event and put my name in as a shavee. The actual day that I am going bald is March 14th to celebrate the city-wide success and I have the most beautiful 17 year old patient to do the honors. I'm nervous but much more important than that, I am extremely grateful to the St. Baldrick's Foundation for their support and I continue to stand in awe of every single one of our patients. I hope that you will support me.