For the last 5 years (this will be my sixth) I've been shaving my head to raise money for childhood cancer. I've experienced the shaving a few different ways over the years. Each year offered something different from my green Mohawks, to shaving in Dublin, Ireland. My favorite years are the first green mohawk, shaving with my brother and my trip to Ireland. I started shaving my head because my brother works on childhood cancer research and he told me about St. Baldrick's. It started out as something fun and soon became a tradition. Ultimately, St Baldrick's took on a much greater meaning when we lost Hunter, our friend's son, to his fight with cancer. It seems that cancer kept hitting a little closer to home, from coworkers, to friends and finally family. I realized the importance of shaving my head this year when my mother was worried what my nephews would think when she lost her hair from chemotherapy. Diagnosed with lung cancer in July, and recently bald, she was concerned that they would be scared of her with no hair. To all of our surprise both of my nephews didn't think twice. They have been exposed to St. Baldrick's almost as long as they can remember and thought it was fun that she didn't have any hair, I don't think it crossed their minds that she was sick. All of this shaving that we had done for fun over the last few years had a very valuable lesson that made our experience with cancer one step easier. The more of us that shave, the more awareness there is for why there are so many bald among us, our mothers, our grandmothers, our children, our coworkers, our friends and our neighbors Over the course of the last five years I've raised almost $20,000, an astounding sum. I couldn't have done this without your support and generous donations you make year after year. I am continually grateful for your kindness. Thank you for listening.