St. Patrick's Day is around the corner and that means St. Baldrick's is, too — an opportunity to join the fight against childhood cancer while letting your hair down before getting it shaved off.
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center partners with Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance each year to bring the St. Baldrick's event to the Sacramento region.
The St. Baldrick's Brave the Shave party will be on March 11, from 5 – 8 p.m., at Mulvaney's B&L, 1215 19th Street, Sacramento.
Last year, more than 90 "shavees" stepped up to have their hair shaved off, generating more than $100,000 in donations to benefit the cancer center's pediatric cancer program.
"This event is an example of UC Davis working with the community to improve the quality of care for children with cancer so that they don't have to leave the Sacramento region and their loved ones to seek treatment somewhere else," said UC Davis Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Chief Marcio Malogolowkin.
According to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, every two minutes a family learns the devastating news that their child has cancer. One in 263 children in the U.S. will get cancer before they turn 20 years old. The survival has improved due to research, but for some kids there is little hope for a cure.
Start a team, join one or donate!
"Bald is beautiful when it means you are raising money for pediatric research," said cancer center marketing specialist Chris Joyce, who is helping to organize the event.
Now is the time to form a team. But, if you are not ready to Brave the Shave, donations are always welcome, too.
"The true winners are pediatric cancer patients because we not only raise money by shaving our heads, but we also raise awareness about the need to fight childhood cancer when we share why we've shaved," said Joyce, who will go bald for a sixth year and encourages others to join him.
