Please excuse this distraction from your busy day. I wanted to reach out to you to let you know of a fundraising event I am participating in for the hope that you can help me in this great cause - St Baldrick's. This is the point at which I'd like to ask for a couple of minutes from your day (I promise you it'll be worth it). Here it goes Why am I shaving my head? While Childhood Cancer Research is a good enough reason on its own, I have had cancer play a prominent role in my life. As some of you know, I lost my father a few years ago to renal cell carcinoma and an aunt to brain cancer a decade ago and as a result my family has been forever changed. Cancer galvanized my family as we rallied to support my dad through his treatments. While my fathers story did not have a happy ending, there are countless stories where miracles do happen and stories have happy endings. Those happy endings lead to new stories of courage, perseverance, and hope. We have come to an age where cancer has gone from an insurmountable foe to defeat-able one. Cutting edge research is being conducted all over the world as scientists unlock the many mysteries of why the body turns against itself. We continue to march towards less severe treatments, more effective remedies, and higher rates of remission. I hope that you will help support me to further cancer research. What can you do? I call this the silver, gold and platinum-level sponsorship. For Silver you get to donate whatever feels right to you, for Gold, you get to donate and come watch me lose my hair, and for Platinum, you don't have to donate because you're going bald too!!! (You'd be surprised at the variety of people who do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFP6lckZcA8 ) For those who like bulleted lists: Please: a. Donate at http://tinyurl.com/fuzzball-kalke (Silver) b. Join me at Fado on March 13th for the event (Gold) c. Become a 'shavee'! (Platinum) d. Around St. Paddy's day, look for our shiny heads! I do this for my father, my aunt, my mom, my sister, my cousins, my friends and the countless people that have been affected by cancer. We can beat this.