Kathleen's Shave

 As you know, our research partner is the St. Baldrick's Foundation. The foundation was started by 3 guys who decided to shave their heads for kids' cancer on St. Patrick's Day. Therefore, the St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraises through head shavings. Here's the story of a beautiful girl and her experience with her shave...

My name is Kathleen, and I am a senior at Saint Louis University studying public health and psychology. I recently applied to several occupational therapy programs for graduate school.  As part of this application process, I completed observation hours at outpatient clinics and hospitals. 

I had the opportunity to meet patients with cancer recovering from side effects of both the disease and treatment. In order to better understand rehabilitation from the patient's perspective and to establish a familiar connection with patients, I decided to sign up for a St. Baldrick's event. In my future career as an occupational therapist, I will meet people working to adapt to a new lifestyle due to disease, disability, and injury. If they should be frustrated by their situation, I want to at least begin to understand their perspective of missing something that is important to them and overcoming that hurdle. 

Shortly after signing up for the shaving event, I bought myself a Headband of Hope. Wearing it before and after the shave, it is an important reminder that, even with no hair, I still want to maintain my female identity. Being bald does not mean I have to miss out on some of the fun parts of being a girl, like dressing up my hair and accessorizing. In fact, now I can have my hair fixed in a fraction of the time while still showing the world that I'm ready to fight like a girl against cancer!