It started on a quiet Super Bowl evening.
Like millions of others, I was half-watching the game and half scrolling through Facebook when a familiar St. Baldrick’s Foundation post appeared.
It wasn’t new. It wasn’t urgent. But this time, it landed differently.
For a few seconds, everything paused.
Thoughts shifted from a screen to something more personal—children facing cancer, people I know who had fought it, some who survived and some who didn’t. Then the image became even closer: great-nephews aged 2, 3, and 5.
In that moment, one thought was crystal clear: if I can make a difference in even one child’s life, then I was going to do it.
I’d never shaved my head before, but losing my hair for a few weeks is nothing compared to what children facing cancer endure.
What the Event Became
What began as a personal choice quickly became something shared.
A friend, Kellie, decided to shave her head too, turning a personal step into a shared experience. From there, more people began to show up—friends, acquaintances, and even people from the business community who hadn’t planned to be involved.
Support came from unexpected places:
- A donor in the UK, Freya, made the first international gift
- A California attorney, Julia, became the first U.S. supporter in that wave
- A church member contributed over $200
- A friend gave $500 in memory of his son, who passed away from cancer
But the most powerful moments weren’t planned at all.
When I arrived at the event, my friend Kellie’s partner, Mike, who lost his son to cancer, decided on the spot that he would take part. Mike is a remarkable and kind man whom I deeply respect and admire, and he is still fundraising.
And shortly after, other friends arrived, and their son, Harrison, who is a college student with a very fine head of hair, decided to take part as well, much to everyone’s surprise. He had it all shaved off and raised a few hundred dollars that day.
Moments like that made me realize that what we were doing was not about courage, it was about kindness. The shared desire to make a difference in a child’s life.
What Stayed with Me
One idea kept coming up again and again after being mentioned in one of my LinkedIn posts:
“If we can make a small difference in one child’s life, that is something worth showing up for.”
Seeing that, even weeks after the original post, reminded me exactly why I chose to do this. It is about making a meaningful difference in the life of a child and their family.
What’s Next
This isn’t a one-time experience.
Plans are already in motion for next year: growing participation, bringing together a group of business professionals from the Raleigh-Durham area, starting fundraising earlier, and even dying my hair green to show my commitment to the cause.
Because once you’ve seen how quickly individual choices become collective impact, it’s hard not to keep going.
I learned something that day. None of us can cure childhood cancer on our own, but every one of us can choose to do something. Sometimes changing a child’s future begins with one small personal decision.
