We all have this powerful army inside of us – a complex machinery of cells – that works tirelessly every day to fight for our survival. Pretty extraordinary, isn’t it?

Now, imagine if that support system falls prey to one cell that has betrayed the rest. That one cell proliferates, causing metastasis and forcing the rest of the body to revolt against you. That is cancer. Now imagine if you were a child afflicted with this internal struggle, forced to undergo chemotherapy and look different from everyone else, on top of normal childhood problems.

Both my uncles on my mom’s side passed away from cancer, and I have seen the repercussions that loss has on families, especially on my cousin who was seven years old at the time. My host mom when I studied in Spain lost her husband to cancer rather quickly; he was diagnosed and a month later, he was gone. After participating in Texas THON’s 12-hour dance marathon last spring, I met incredible Miracle children whose vivacity and exuberance overshone any difficulties they were going through.

This year, I met an incredible friend who invests her heart into Texas THON’s kids, who motivate her “to work harder everyday so that she can one day invent medical devices that will help improve the daily lives of kids going through similar situations.” There are people very important to me who are riding over 4500 miles from Austin to Alaska to raise money for cancer research. In the words of someone who had an influential figure pass away from this disease, he is fighting for a future when “no child has to miss school for chemotherapy, no family is torn apart by the stress of medical bills, and no love story ends because of cancer.”

More than anything, I’ve been inspired by the people around me to care more – and to do something about it. 

This year on April 15th, I am going to Brave the Shave. With a personal fundraising goal of $500, I will raise money for children’s cancer research, which is severely underfunded in respect to adult cancer research, and donate my hair in the process. Please help me in whatever way you can: giving however much you can, sharing this post, and/or being there on April 15th :-)

Let’s remind the world that bold is beautiful, and bald is beautiful.