I've answered the call to be a hero! I'm having my head shaved to stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer, but more importantly, to raise money to find cures. I wanted to participate this year to honor my niece and goddaughter Mary, who has fought her own courageous battle with cancer this past year (see her picture above and her story below). Please support me with a donation to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. This volunteer-driven charity funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Your gift will give hope to infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers. So when I ask for your support, I'm really asking you to support these kids. Thank you! Click "Make a donation" to give online, or donate by phone or mail.
Mary's Story as told by her mother (my sister-in-law)
What started out as a regular physical exam turned into so much more for us and our daughter, Mary. She was just two years old and a routine blood check with her pediatrician showed abnormal results. After the follow up blood test was also abnormal, we were sent to the pediatric hematology/oncology clinic at UNC Chapel Hill, “just to make sure everything was OK”. We couldn’t believe we were being sent to a CANCER CLINIC for our little girl. After 3 months of tests - our daughter being poked and scanned in every way, it was finally found: a tumor in her right kidney. A Wilm’s tumor. A rare cancerous tumor of the kidney that primarily affects children ages 2 to 4. That horrific day was in March 2011 and just four days later Mary’s right kidney was taken out, along with the entire tumor. We were told of the good news: the tumor was small for its type, no lymph nodes or blood vessels were involved. But the bad news, Mary would still have to undergo chemotherapy for 5 months to ensure nothing grows back and any microscopic cancer cells are killed.
Mary was an amazing trooper through it all and an example of strength from which even adults could learn. She walked into that oncology clinic like she owned it and left most days with a smile on her face, and left one on the faces of her doctors and nurses too!
It is incomprehensible to think of your baby, only 2 years old having CANCER. The emotions you go through are all over the place. You want to take it yourself. It is still difficult to talk about those days even now. But, you do it, you go through it, you deal with the side effects and you continue to hope and pray that it’s ALL GONE. Knowing that there are programs like St Baldricks definitely gives you some comfort. Knowing that people would give their precious time and generous donations really does help. And when you see the shaved heads and know that these people give up their own vanity to show the kids they don’t look so different - it’s heart warming. I can tell you first hand as Mary’s mom, that some of the doctors at her cancer clinic participate in St. Baldrick's, and to see them walk around without hair, really puts a smile on the kids faces. They get that little extra boost to hold their heads up high and smile.
As a mother of a child who fought cancer and continues to fight it, I say thank you for any donation you can give. Matt Shelhorse is my brother-in-law, and Mary is Matt’s Godchild. She is a bright, sparkling and vivacious little girl. She is a warrior! Once again, thank you very much!
