“Your child has cancer.”

Four words that every parent fears. The sad reality is that 1 in every 285 children in the United States alone will be diagnosed with cancer before they turn 20 years old. Around the world, approximately 300,000 children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old are diagnosed each year. That means by the time you finish reading this, another parent will hear those four words. In fact, every two minutes world wide, those words are said. Childhood cancer is the number one cause of death by disease.

The average age of children with cancer is just six years old. Unfortunately 80% of the time it has already spread to other parts of the body by the time it is found.

1 in every 5 children with cancer survive. For the ones that do, the battle is never over. Because of treatments that they had while their bodies were still developing, 95 percent will have a chronic health problem by their 30’s and 40’s, 80 percent of which will be life threatening conditions.

The good news is thanks to research, 90 percent of kids with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, will survive! That is a huge improvement compared to the 1950’s when almost every child with ALL died.

But this research can’t happen without our help! Did you know that less than 4% of the National Cancer Institute’s budget is dedicated to childhood cancer research? That’s where St. Baldricks comes in. By being one of those crazy head shavers (or supporting someone that is) you help fund important grants that save lives! St. Baldrick’s believes that not only should kids survive, but they should also thrive! A cure isn’t enough. Grants need to be funded to help supportive care for patients as well. Each year, people all over raise money and then brave the shave for St. Baldricks to make that goal a reality.

Oh and although I already shaved my head, if you help me reach my goal of $750, I’ll shave my head AGAIN at the event!