Photos: Volunteers shave their heads for St. Baldrick’s fundraiser

Last Friday morning, March 21, the pediatric oncology team at the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois, part of UI Health, hosted its 18th annual head-shaving event to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The volunteer- and donor-powered charity supports research to find cures for childhood cancers, make treatments safer and more effective and give survivors long, healthy lives.

St. Baldrick’s is the largest charity funder of childhood cancer research grants in the U.S. Funds raised are used for lab support for clinical research, treatment for children in clinical trials, research to train future leaders in childhood cancer and other initiatives at health care institutions like UI Health.

Including this year, the UI Health St. Baldrick’s event has raised more than $270,000 and shaved approximately 410 heads, each representing a commitment to fighting childhood cancer. UI Health and its children’s hospital provide comprehensive services to children, adolescents and young adults with cancer, leukemia, sickle cell disease, hemophilia and other blood disorders.

“Today, we gather not just to shave heads, but to stand in solidarity with children fighting cancer and to fund the research that will one day lead to cures,” said Kathleen Breen, pediatric advanced practice nurse in the UI Health Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, to kick off the event. “We’re changing the future for kids with cancer.”

The 17 shavees this year were members of the community and UI Health personnel, including doctors and nurses.

Nece Pounds, one of UI Health’s pediatric oncology nurses, has been shaving her head for 10 years since she “struck a deal” with Todd, one of her pediatric cancer patients.

“Working in (pediatrics), we have so much hope,” Pounds said. “Ten years ago, my patient Todd had a really rough night with chemo. I said to him, ‘If you can make it through this chemo, I will shave my head for you.’ In Todd’s honor, we struck a deal, and it was the first time I shaved my head, and that was 10 years ago.”

Discussing pediatric cancer, Pounds said, “It’s considered a rare disease, but it’s not rare to us because we are in it every day. Just the exposure and the awareness that it is happening on a regular basis, and the funding that we receive from events like our UI Health St. Baldrick’s event today, is one of the biggest pushes we can make every year to ensure that these kids get what they deserve.”

Those interested can still donate to the UI Health St. Baldrick’s Foundation event through the end of April.

Again, this year, UI Health was selected for a St. Baldrick’s Foundation Infrastructure Grant. The grant supports the UIC Children’s Oncology Group, a consortium of UIC, Rush University Medical Center and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and managed by the University of Illinois Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office. The consortium is currently enrolling patients in 18 different clinical studies.

See photos below from the head-shaving fundraiser.