St. Baldrick's Day

For several years Shirley has told me about some work colleagues of hers that participate in a fundraiser known as St. Baldrick's Day. The premise is you pledge to shave your head if your friends pledge donations for children's cancer research. I always thought it was a cool idea but never felt THAT connected to the cause. Even though my grandmother died from cancer, the St. Baldrick's Foundation is specific to children's cancer. I realize it's all part of the same disease, but the connection wasn't really there until I attended an alumni reuinion in Florida in 2009 and found out that my college roomate's 9 year old son had Leukemia.

So I did the fundraiser last year and shaved my head for the first time ever, raising $1300 in the process. I once had a "crew cut" when I was 8 years old or so. It was a great experience to see how connected people felt to the cause and even hear stories about their battles with cancer. I'm fortunate that I've been a relative bystander in this disease.

I signed up again for the event in 2010 and will be shaving my head at lunch time tomorrow at Shirley's school. The event was started by one teacher there and has caught on to several faculty members and some students. There is currently no St. Baldrick's event in Taiwan but there is in Hong Kong. I was talking to Shirley about trying to start up an event at her new school in Taiwan. It would be awesome to start the first event in Taiwan. I wonder if it will catch on. If not, it might be a good excuse for a trip to Hong Kong.

You can see my profile and join me in donating at:

https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/pilam99

The beard alone should be worth something!

I will post photos/video after the shearing...

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