Things are still chaotic around here; it’s “dead week”, which should really be termed “death week” because every project, paper, last minute assignments, and my sanity are due! After this week, I will officially be done with my undergraduate career at NC State! Finals start next week, so blogging will be put on a mini-hiatus again :/.

 My lovely friend and former mentee, Jess, is the president and founder of Headbands of Hope, which kicks off today! Their mission:

“To fund research for childhood cancer and spread hope in all girls, one at a time” (source)

For every headband purchased, one is given to a girl with cancer and $1 is donated to St. Baldrick’s Foundation to fund life-saving childhood cancer research. Not only are all of the headbands $14.99 (excluding tax and shipping), but also insanely cute and stylish! What better way to raise awareness for such a great cause than doing it in style?

Also, the Work It Out tab has been updated! You can now find my favorite and most popular workout posts listed on the front page. Exercising can’t get any easier!

Cippolone was diagnosed with a malignant kidney tumor in 2010. A check-up this past January found a nodule on his lung.

In Ms. Mary Lou Conroy’s second grade class at St. Thomas More, Leo Farmerie, Gus Cramer and Trey Pauley are getting ready for some serious buzz cuts.

[worldnow id=7023715 width=385 height=255 type=video]

Actually, on May 1, they’re shaving their head for a good cause.

“I’m going to have my head shaved because I don’t want him to feel like the odd one out – the only one bald,” Gabe’s classmate, Leo Farmerie, said.

“Of course, we pray every day for Gabe — both here in school and at home – and the kids, they wanted to do more,” Gabe’s teacher, Mary Lou Conroy, said.

Farmerie pitched the idea of shaving his head to his parents.

“We just told him, if you’re going to do it, raise money while you do it,” Leo’s mother, Carrie Farmerie, said.

That’s when more buddies got on board for Gabe.

“I feel bad for him because he had it twice,” a classmate said.

“He’s cool, he nice and he’s fun to be around,” another classmate added.

Using the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for Children’s Cancer Research’s website, the boys have raised nearly $7,000 in under a month.

“When Gabe doesn’t feel well enough to come to school he Skypes some of his lessons. KDKA-TV took the opportunity to ask what he thinks of his friend’s efforts.”

“I think they’re very nice and helpful,” Gabe said.

And they’re not finished yet.

“I think we have to dream a little bigger,” Farmerie said.

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Volunteers line up to get their heads shaved in a showing of solidarity for children with cancer.

Organizations such as the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has made it their mission to fund research in finding a cure to childhood cancer. St. Baldrick’s foundation has raised almost $115 million dollars since its inception on March 17, 2000.

Participants of a St. Baldrick’s events can volunteer to have their heads shaved as a symbolic showing of support and awareness for childhood cancer. Over 190,000 people have shed their locks from all corners of the world.

Long Island residents came out to one such event held at Marcus Christ Hall in New Hyde Park to help the cause. The hall was modest but packed with buzz eager participants. Both young and old lined up at four chairs to shave their heads, while a DJ spun upbeat beat music and little girls handed out cookies.

If you are looking to make a unique show of support in the battle of childhood cancer, St. Baldrick’s will be right up your alley.

Taking his cue from St. Baldrick’s Foundation, our Director of Community Development shaved his head on Friday to raise money for our school in Kachra Kundi and #lethedreambe’. In the crazy-short time span of ten days, Omar Salim raised about $1200! What a guy!

To raise awareness for the fundraiser, Omar and other members of Thaakat took up Facebook and Twitter by storm. On Twitter, they were able to catch the attention of several Chicago Bears players, the BBC Asian Network, Ali Zafar, Raghav, and many others who all took a moment to tweet about Omar’s balding campaign. Thank you everyone for your support!

After the event, Omar shared a few words of wisdom on Facebook: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you your idea won’t work! Believe in yourself and the rest works out on its own.”

Omar, congratulations on a job well done!

Also, congratulations on having such a nicely-shaped head! Not everyone is so blessed. I’m afraid if I ever undertook a fundraising campaign to go bald, people would be too horrified by my lumpy, alien-shaped head to donate at all.

Now, Thaakat’s very own Director of Community Development Omar Salim is on a mission to raise $1000 for the school in Kachra Kundi in much the same way. Yes, yes, he is shaving his head! Not only that, but I don’t think that Saad Bawany – that would be the guy shaving Omar’s head – has much experience in the arena of shaving heads. Omar, you are a true monument to bravery! Donate today, and Thaakat will livestream the event for all to see.

Let’s hope that Omar survives the event without any life-threatening cuts! ]]> http://wsuatc.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/going-bald-for-a-good-cause/ Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:23:38 +0000 wsuatc http://wsuatc.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/going-bald-for-a-good-cause/ WRIGHT STATE BASEBALL TO HOST FIRST ANNUAL BASEBALD GAME TO CONQUER KIDS’ CANCER
Game set for April 29 vs. Butler

The Wright State University Baseball team will be hosting their first annual BaseBald game on Sunday, April 29 in conjunction with their series finale with Butler. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

BaseBald is a national initiative to raise money and awareness for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization formed to “Conquer Kids Cancer”. Other baseball programs participating in this initiative include the University of North Carolina, UNC-Greensboro, Tulane, Western Kentucky, Santa Clara and Georgia Tech.

“We are very excited to partner with St. Baldrick’s and help raise money to conquer childhood cancer,” said Head Coach Rob Cooper. “This is going to be a fun event with proceeds going to a worthy cause.”

Members of the team, as well as other Wright State student-athletes will have their heads shaved for the game to raise awareness for childhood cancer. In addition to shaving their heads, the Wright State Baseball team will be collecting donations in support of St. Baldrick’s leading up to, and at, the game.

Following the game, fans will have the opportunity to have their heads shaved by members of the baseball team for a contribution. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

“Our team is excited that we can be part of this special initiative with many of our peers throughout the country,” said senior Jake Hibberd. “We are looking forward to shaving our heads, and others, for this important cause.”

Donations are currently being accepted online by visiting the Wright State BaseBald page through St. Baldrick’s… http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/mypage/8261/2012 . Fans may choose to donate to specific player or coach, or just the overall team goal.

Please join us to raise awareness and funds to help “Conquer Childhood Cancer”.

ABOUT ST. BALDRICK’S

On March 17, 2000, reinsurance executives John Bender, Tim Kenny and Enda McDonnell turned their industry’s St. Patrick’s Day party into a head-shaving event to benefit kids with cancer. Their 20 “shavee” recruits planned to raise “$17,000 on the 17th.” Instead, they raised over $104,000!

The movement quickly grew into the world’s largest volunteer-driven fundraising program for childhood cancer research, and today the St. Baldrick’s Foundation funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. Since 2000, more than 189,660 volunteers — including over 17,200 women — have shaved in solidarity with children with cancer at events in dozens of countries and every U.S. state. Thanks to generous friends and family, these shavees have raised over $117 million for life-saving research, and each is a walking billboard for the cause!

At St. Baldrick’s events, people from all walks of life discover a power they didn’t know they had…the power to bring hope and a future to the bravest kids in the world, and countless volunteers say, “St. Baldrick’s is the best thing I’ve ever done to help someone.”

Loyola University Chicago students gathered to get their heads shaved on Thursday evening to help support and raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

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The Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity hosted and celebrated Loyola’s seventh annual St. Baldrick’s Day event by shaving off students’ hair, both guys and girls, in the Centennial Forum Student Union. With a number well over 100 participants and raising more than $24,000 for childhood cancer research, SAE exceeded every expectation they had set for themselves in helping the cause.

“Two to three hundred people signed up within the first two weeks of event registration,” said Pedro Guerrero, 20, a sophomore political science major and a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. “We’ve surpassed all our goals in the way of getting volunteers and money donations, and it’s a great feeling to be supporting the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.”

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer based charity that is committed to funding research that helps find cures for childhood cancer. They team up with schools and other organizations to put on fundraising events, and the St. Baldrick’s Day head-shaving celebrations bring in a lot of donations. So far this year, St. Baldrick’s Foundation has raised over $20 million dollars and has had over 44,000 shavees.

“This is my third time shaving my head for the cause,” said James Wentz, 21, a junior theology major. “I work at an elementary school and encourage the students to do it someday because St. Baldrick’s is an awesome organization for trying to help people.”

Although there was a generous amount of participation from the student body on the final day of the affair, an event like this took quite a lot of planning and preparation. Tom Rouleau, 20, a sophomore English major and the organizer/chairman of the St. Baldrick’s Day celebration started planning this fundraiser in late September.

“I invited other organizations to join us for this event, and I set up the webpage with St. Baldrick’s Foundation where people could register online,” said Rouleau. “For the last few months I have been in charge of the promotional aspects of the event, finding entertainment, and booking the space in CFSU so we could hold the celebration.”

When the head-shaving began, crowds of students swarmed the stage as they watched their friends and complete strangers go bald.

“I’m here to support my boyfriend and friends,” said Khush Dalal, 20, a junior psychology major. “I think it’s really honorable and brave to shave your head in a society where it is sometimes considered a ‘big deal’ to do something drastic to your looks.”

Just after the festivities began, the fire alarm went off and the swarms of supporters were filed out into the street.

“Everything went smoothly, but I definitely could have done without a fire drill which left people with half shaved heads,” said Rouleau.

The minor setback didn’t damper the excitement of some of the participants though.

“I’ve been planning to do this since November,” said John Juranek, 22, a senior biology major. “I loved doing Relay for Life, and I couldn’t wait to support another cause that supports cancer research.”

Some participants decided to go bald for loved ones.

“I’m shaving my head to bring awareness to childhood cancer and for my grandma. My hair grows fast, so I plan to do it in years to come.” said Tyler Hough, 18, a political science major and SAE pledge.

A few Loyola students were participating by being in control of the clippers.

“It’s such a fulfilling experience to know that you may be changing someone’s life just by cutting their hair,” said Elise Navarro, 19, a sophomore business major. “I don’t think I have the courage to shave my head, but I am so proud of all the brave people who did it for the cause.”

The St. Baldrick’s Day celebration brought in more than just Loyola students.

“I tried shaving my head for this cause a few years ago and decided to do it again,” said Ronald Marmolejo, 60, a Rogers Park native. “By doing this, I am trying to improve the possibility of finding a cure for cancer, and it’s my way of thanking all the wonderful people who support me.”

Story by Steph Medeiros

Photos by Steph and Steve Medeiros

Dozens of cars lined the narrow street. Random clusters of green-clad celebrants ambled through alleyways and nearby parking lots, making their merry way to Fibber McGee’s Public House in Wilmington. It was barely noon, and Steven was about two Guinness’s ahead.

After circling the block for about 20 minutes, feeling like vultures in a Toyota, we finally secured parking and made our way to the outdoor tent.  We found Steven promptly. At over six feet tall, he’s easily spotted in a crowd.

All around us were powerful symbols of life affirmation. Young women proudly displaying their best endowments in green sequined garb while babies and inebriated patrons share jolly grins and wobbly gaits. Cold beer in abundance. Children’s laughter floating up through the air. Within such a happy-go-lucky crowd, you almost forget the somber subject of the cause.

Steven (on the right) enjoys a beer with Steve (on the left), before his shearing session. Shearing shession. Shearing shesshion. (By the way, it is impossible to say ‘shearing session’ while intoxicated).

For several weeks, Steven had proudly refrained from shaving or getting a haircut. Until today, that is. Several other shavees were in attendance. Most were men, but a few boys and even some women were happy to participate. Volunteers operated pie-throwing games and a dunk tank while pub goers mingled and cheered the shavees on. A framed photo sat atop a merchandise table – presumably of a loved one who lost the battle.

Eventually, a garbled voice called Steven to the stage.

Time to get down to business.

“Punk-rock mountaineer works for you…”

Fancy a pint and a shave? Yes. Yes, he does.

Uh, Steven…you’re supposed to cover yourself with the cape.

We spent the rest of the afternoon celebrating with the most appropriate holiday traditions. Green beer, corned beef and cabbage and lots of laughs. It was a most enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day in Wilmington. ♦

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is committed to curing childhood cancer. The prequel of the signature St. Patty’s Day event encourages participants to refrain from shaving or getting a haircut for several weeks (or months) ahead of time. Then, on March 17, participants lose their locks to “stand in solidarity with kids fighting cancer,” according to the organization’s website. 

Debbe and her mother decided to "go bald" for cancer together. What a great team!

Debbe Ebben is not your typical teen. After all, most teenage girls would be ready to fight to the death to keep a barber from shaving off all their prized locks… even for a good cause, but two years ago Debbe (who will be competing for Miss. Alaska in November) made a promise that she’d raise awareness and money for childhood cancer research. The trade off for donations: she would shave her head when she raised $2,500. 9news.com reports that Debbe recently hit her goal and off went all of her hair!

She even convinced her mother to join her in her bold, bald hair cut.

Debbe gave 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love before she was selected as Miss Chugiak-Eagle River of Alaska and had this to say about her dramatic buzz cut, ”Our biggest goal is to bring a sense of normalcy to kids and to let them know that it’s okay to be bald and that bald can be beautiful and that even beauty queens can be bald.”

Watch the news clip on her story here.

All the money raised was donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation (a national charity that raises money for childhood cancer research through head-shaving fundraising events that raised over $28.3 million in 2011). And Debbe says she won’t be wearing a wig when she competes for Miss Alaska. She’s keeping things natural and real. So, maybe the story will keep drawing attention to what’s really important: helping kids with cancer.

That’s beautiful. No matter how you cut it.

If you are interested in “going bald” for cancer research, the “Be Bold Be Bald!” organization has free resources to help with fundraising. It’s there to help you get people to sponsor your bold move and raise money for a cancer charity of your choosing.

The Bald and the Beautiful. Click this photo to watch the news clip.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

“I wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then, I realized I am somebody.”

~Author Unknown

One of the most disturbing facts surrounding childhood cancer is the lack of development of new therapies over the past couple of decades. Yes, I mean decades. While a multitude of technological advances, ahem– such as the worldwide web—have seen an explosion of growth, the treatment of childhood cancers is burdened with shortages (methotrexate) and the absence of new therapies. The bottom line here seems to be money. Producing drugs that are needed to fight childhood cancer is not profitable. The factories and labs that were in top shape in the 1970’s are now run-down and outdated.

It’s easy for all of us to think that the economy is bad, or childhood cancer will never affect me, or believe someone else will step in to take care of it all.

The Bottom Bottom Line is we need to act now to provide a life insurance policy for our children of the future.  If money for research is what it takes, then we need to show our care for children by taking responsibility for developing new targeted therapies. Imagine a vaccine that prevents cancer. Imagine.

The truth is we do not even know what causes childhood cancer.

Shouldn’t every one of us want to know what causes it? Every day brings newly diagnosed children, and every day brings death. I want to thank Amy Baldwin and Jordan Smith for allowing me to use Jordan’s photo collage in my post yesterday. Of sixty-six children in the collage, twenty-six children have passed. One third.

Supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand, CureSearch, and St. Baldrick’s will help us find cures for childhood cancer faster. This is a race, and this is war. I want all of us to be the Navy Seals who put an end to the tortuous reign of childhood cancer.

Your “Navy Seal” opportunities of the day:

Hold a lemonade stand to raise money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand & pediatric cancer research

If you enjoy walking, join the CureSearch Walk in Raleigh N.C.:

Or… give to St. Baldrick’s in memory/honor of a child who has fought cancer… for example, Ethan Jostad

I see two choices here.

1) Be ostriches with our heads buried in the sand (scared you, didn’t I?)

2) Believe, “I am Somebody” and act accordingly.

What a smile, Ethan!

WCBS 880′s Sean Adams On The Story

Download: adams_clarkstown1w_morn_120309.mp3|titles=Clarkstown%20Cops%20Going%20Bald%20For%20A%20Good%20Cause%20-%20WCBS%20880%20reporter%20Sean%20Adams%20has%20the%20story.|artists=WCBS%20880

They’ll do it by shedding their locks to raise money for St. Baldrick’s Day.

“Everybody knows somebody who has cancer and most people have heard about somebody or know a child that’s been affected and yeah it is a small price to pay when you know that you can raise money to try and help beat this terrible disease,” said Det. John Fredericks on Friday. “That’s what this is all about, raising money for childhood cancer research, but also to make these kids feel like they’re not alone. There’s other people that look the same way that they do and just try and give them some comfort any way we can.”

They’re close to their goal of $10,000 with help from families, including daughters.

“St. Baldrick’s isn’t just for the boys, but Locks for Love works better for the girls because they actually use their hair for wigs, to make wigs for kids that have lost their hair,” he said.

You can donate to the cause by visiting the St. Baldrick’s Foundation website.

According to its mission statement, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation “is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.”

I am so blown away by the generosity and support of my friends, family, and co-workers.  I’ve always known that I’m surrounded by awesome people, but to see it in action like this is so humbling and quite moving.  You are such special people and I am so grateful to have you in my life. I know how much of  a sacrifice it is to find extra room in your budget for things like this, and yet it seems like every time I log into my St. Baldrick’s account another friend has given a donation.

I must admit that a lot of the initial excitement is giving way to nerves.  I’m starting to worry about silly things like the shape of my head and the little stereotype-boxes strangers will put me in when they see my naked head.  But those thoughts are swiftly blown away when I think about all the love and encouragement I’m getting from people literally around the world.  And ultimately I think, “It’s just hair, right?  It’ll grow back.”  I mean, I’ll get my hair back in a few months.  So many parents aren’t going to get their kids back this year because of this awful, distressing disease.  Guys, cancer sucks!  Thank you so so so much for helping to get us one step closer to finding a cure once and for all.

If you’re still interested in checking up on my efforts and/or seeing before & after photos, HERE’S the link to my St. Baldrick’s page.

Grace: A Child's Intimate Journey Through Cancer and Recovery

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”                                                                                                                          ~Ghandi

 Each time I speak at a book club, I learn something new. Last Friday’s Book Club for AAUW (American Association of University Women) was no exception. This is one thing I learned: if a woman is highly educated, it does not necessarily mean that she knows anything about childhood cancer. One woman admitted to me that she had wiggled and struggled to get out of reading my book because the subject of childhood cancer is not one she wants to explore. She then admitted she was very glad she did read it. She went on to ask excellent questions, even giving me multiple opportunities to explain that when children are diagnosed with cancer, 80% have advanced stages of the disease. They were dumbfounded when I told them that this figure is only 20% in adults—because adults are much more aware and those who treat them are as well.

Their intelligent minds went on to develp another important question, “What causes childhood cancer?” I will bet that most Americans can tell you what causes cancer in adults. I will further bet that most Americans cannot tell you what causes cancer in children.

Top medical professionals cannot tell us what causes cancer in children, so how would anyone else know? I answered their question by telling them the truth, “We do not know what causes any of the twelve major types of childhood cancer. We just don’t know.”

This is one huge reason why we need to pour money and time into childhood cancer research. I learned yesterday about Gabrielle Sassin, who is raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in honor of his sister, who is a survivor.

“My son is participating in the math-a-thon to raise as much money as he can for St. Jude in honor of his big sister a cancer survivor and many others just like her. He only has 2 more days left, Will you please help him in his effort, each day he comes home from school he asks me to check his page, it would be really awesome if I told him he made it to $300 today:) Here is the link to his page, if you cannot donate anything please share his link, at least go check out his page because he feels very important and cool to have a page of his very own. Here is the link….”

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayUserPage.do?programId=551&eventId=288156&sectionStyle=subMenuTwo&userId=792250

This reminds me of how Lily Nunn shaved her head to raise money for St. Baldrick’s to honor the memory of her brother, Max. When I see young children acting for the benefit of other children in need, it gets me. It really, really gets me. Instead of claiming their “right” to be a carefree, self-centered kid, they decide to turn the care in their hearts into more than just care.  Instead of being carefree, these special children give their care freely.

When I see children leading the way to work for good, creating hope, and shining like brilliant examples of goodness, I feel blessed. Kids like this give the rest of us a good rep!

Thank you to all the Little Hope Creators.

I think this doggie needs to be a Therapy Dog!