Beautiful Lengths

THIS

MINUS

EQUALS

*Taking photos of yourself is always awkward, but I wanted to document the change.

Today I chopped off 10+ inches of my hair and donated it. About a year ago, my sister-in-law Sunny suggested that I grow out my hair and donate it. She was probably just saying this in passing, but it was the perfect idea. Donating my hair was a small way to do something for the cause I had recently become more invested in. Three stories of cancer victims have touched me over the past couple of years.

A 16 year-old girl from my hometown passed away in January 2010 after a battle with cancer. Even though I lived thousands of miles away from home, I (like the rest of my town) followed her struggle closely.

A former boss's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer before I ever worked on his project. He ended up moving home to California and had several months with his mom before she passed away in November 2010. It hit close to home because his parents are roughly the same age as mine.

Declan's story absolutely broke my heart. I've never met Declan or his family, but I followed his journey from the very beginning. A friend from work is good friends with the Carmical family. In March 2009, my coworker invited me to participate in a March Madness tournament that Declan's dad Stan organizes every year. In March 2010, I was gearing up to participate again when I found out that Stan's 6 month-old son (Declan) had just been diagnosed with AT/RT, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Declan passed away five months later in August 2010, eight days before his 1st birthday. I watched the Balloons for Declan video again today. It touches me every time.

This post is not meant to be a total downer. There are a lot of people working to make a positive difference. Declan's family founded Journey4Acure, an organization devoted to funding research in search of a cure to pediatric cancer. Pantene Beautiful Lengths has donated thousands of FREE wigs to women living with cancer. If you a hair to spare (or something else to contribute), perhaps you can get involved.