BraidShare!

Meet Samantha Brown.…a first year student at the University of Calgary earning her Bachelor of Health Sciences Degree in Biomedical Sciences. At the age of 6 Sam started a personal initiative called BraidShare. Since then, she has donated her hair 3 times, a total of 48.5 inches! In addition to her hair donation, along with friends and family, she has raised over $10,000 for Kids Cancer Care! This is her story….

“I was first inspired to donate my hair at the age of 6 while watching my favorite TV show, Zoom. On the show I watched a vignette of a girl cutting and donating her hair to make a wig. This led to a family discussion about cancer and illness-related hair loss and why it is important for people to donate their hair. I had always had longer hair, so I thought hey, I want to do that too! Two years later, when I was 8 years old, I did my first "Hair Harvest," donating 12 inches of my hair. Around this time, I decided that there should be a name for the donating of my hair. I came up with the name “BraidShare”, a name I felt, and still believe, is a best representation of what it is that I do—I share my braids. Ever since then, the name just stuck.

Three years later, in 2005, I was ready to donate my hair again. This time, I wanted to do some fundraising as well. My sister Amanda (who had donated her hair with me the first time along with our mom) and I came across the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta's Camp Kindle. Camp Kindle is a special camp for kids and their siblings who have been touched by cancer. The tuition of the camp is covered 100% by donations, so their families don't have to pay anything. Summer camp has always been (and still is) a favorite part of our year, and we believe that even if you are sick or your family is going through a rough time, you should still get to have fun and go to camp. So, together we crocheted and sold bookmarks that looked like little braids. We raised $500, enough to send a kid to camp, and donated our hair again. This time I donated 21.5 inches, and Amanda donated 18 inches.

We didn't stop there. The following year, the cost to send a kid to camp went up to $900. We needed to do more than selling bookmarks, so we decided to organize a craft fair as a fundraiser. All of the money from renting vendor tables went to the KCCFA. This was extremely successful and we organized our fundraiser holiday craft fair for 4 years, each time raising over $1000.

In 2007, we donated our hair again (15 inches for me, 12 inches for Amanda), but this time we were joined by our brother, Dennis, who participated in the Shave Your Lid for a Kid program (he has now done a total of three shaves so far). To date, the three of us have raised over $10,000 for Camp Kindle. On Wednesday, April 18th, I will be doing my fourth hair harvest. I want to raise another $1000 to send another kid to camp. With the support of my community, I have raised $721 in only a couple of days!”

-Sam

If you are interested in making a donation to Sam's 2012 BraidShare, please follow the link: https://secure.csfm.com/kidscancer/shaveyourlidforakid/home/profile.php?participant_id=411833671333480838

 Learn more about Camp Kindle: http://www.kidscancercare.ab.ca/camp.htm

Friends of Karlee

The Lewis family is a Kids Cancer Care family that we hold very near and dear to our hearts. Ron Lewis and his son Ryley have been hard at work organizing a Shave Your Lid for a Kid event to take place on May 25^th at Sommerset School. The event is called “Friends of Karlee,” in honour of Ron’s Daughter Karlee’s cancer journey. The shave was organized as an appreciation to Kids Cancer Care as we supported the Lewis family during Karlee’s fight. This is a story of family, community, love and courage. This is their story…

“Getting a diagnosis of cancer is devastating anytime, but it is even more difficult when it is your 3 year old daughter.  That is what happened to our family on Friday August 6^th, 2010 when our daughter Karlee was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.  A lot of emotions, thoughts and fears run through you in a very short time and then reality sets in and you realize that you need to look at it as a journey with ups and downs and an end point.  We chose to look at this journey with faith & hope and to make the best of an awful situation.  The Kids Cancer Care Foundation makes it easier for patients, siblings and entire families to have a positive outlook and have support.

The KCCFA came into our lives on Tuesday August 10^th, 2010.  Karlee was in surgery to have her port inserted and Ryley was in the family room on Unit 1 when he was asked if he would like to go to camp next week.  We were absolutely shocked that an organization would offer to help Ryley.  He went to camp and had a fabulous time, got to meet some great friends, volunteers and staff and saw that this awful disease didn’t have to bring people down.  In the fall we got a chance to go to camp as a family.  Karlee’s blood counts were very, very low but the doctors agreed to let her go.  We went to camp with the attitude that we were going to have some fun as a family, but we underestimated the power of camp.  The relationships you make at camp teach you so much about healing, support and strength.  When we got back from camp Karlee’s counts had risen to their highest level since she was diagnosed.  At camp there are warriors, survivors and their families and well as the families of angles.  Each of these people can teach you so much about the human spirit and the ability to overcome.

Kids Cancer Care has allowed our family to take part in many events that we wouldn’t have been able to while dealing with cancer.  They have also connected us with other families who have provided another level of support in helping us get through everything and in showing us that there is life after cancer. We have tried to give back to this organization by volunteering for events when we are able, donating money from slipper sales and now organizing a Shave Your Lid for a Kid event.  Right before Survivor Day last year we decided we wanted to give something back.  As someone who has shaved my head for 15 years I realized I needed to do something a little different to raise money by shaving so I decided to grow my hair for a year!  Ryley also agreed to shave his head and has been growing his hair since October.  We started talking to up over the summer and started signing people up in January.  We already have 20 people who are shaving their heads.  Somerset School, which both kids attend, is partnering with us and going to help make this a great event.  So far we have raised over $16,000 and we still have 2 months to go.

Our journey has had its challenges with numerous hospital visits (some planned and some not so planned), lots of chemo and other medications and a few scary moments, including Karlee coding in the clinic and the code team having to revive her.  It has also had lots of special moments like camp, sporting events and family time.  Many of the special moments have been made possible by Kids Cancer Care and have been made extra special by their incredible staff and volunteers.  There is no way to say thank you enough times to the KCCFA for the incredible work they do for families that need the support they offer.”

-Ron Lewis

To donate to the Friends of Karlee shave: https://secure.csfm.com/kidscancer/shaveyourlidforakid/home/profile_group.php?group_id=496992321327074991

If you are interested in joining this shave and shaving your head to show support and raise funds for childhood cancer, please email Leah at Nelner@kidscancercare.ab.ca