Spare Change for a bald head?

My initial contact with the blogging world all started with my friend Erin's little nephew Finn. He was diagnosed with leukemia at just 17 months old. Finn is Sauce's age and ever since his diagnosis, I have thought about families affected by these horrible diseases and how they must feel, "why me?" I ask the question, "Why not me?" Why was it Finn and not Sauce? I don't know. I know we live in a fallen world and as a result we must wrestle with the evils in it, but I learned to hug my kids tighter and keep perspective during the tougher times of everyday parenting. I'm thankful that so far I've had healthy children, but I know that there is nothing special that qualifies me for that, and I will always keep moving through life with tenderness and appreciation because of it.

I followed his journey through chemo and I am thrilled to say that he is cancer free today. You can trace his journey at Finn's Caringbridge page. After I heard about his story, I soon started following about 15-20 Caringbridge pages and that eventually led me to keeping my own blog. So, I have a special place in my heart for Finn.

Well, Finn's parents Natalie and Eamonn support an organization called St. Baldricks. St. Baldrick's began as a casual conversation between friends and is now the world's--THE WORLD'S!--biggest volunteer-driven fundraising program for childhood cancer. In eight years, events have taken place in 18 countries and 46 US states, raising over $34 million, and shaving more than 46,000 heads. Thousands of volunteers shave their heads in solidarity of children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family. The money goes to hospitals for pediatric cancer research. Nationwide Children's Hospital, where Finn was treated in Columbus, and Denver Children's are both recipients of St. Baldrick's money. They also award research fellowships. Anyway, it's pretty cool to think that the very programs where Finn was being treated, and was a part of a study, receive the funds they're working to raise.

Eamonn is shaving his head again this year to raise money for St. Baldricks. If you feel like you could contribute to his soon-to-be chilly skull, here's the link to Eamonn's page (for some reason, I can't get the link to work directly... you must search for Eamonn R under participants).