The Sox Family
A few years ago, I didn’t really know the Sox family. Our kids played baseball at the same field. We had several mutual friends and passed each other at events around town. But in July of 2016, their son Brayden was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. When I heard about it, my heart broke for them and I had no idea what I could do to help. We participated in a few fundraisers, and through those I was lucky enough to get to know the Sox family and Bray.
To see this young man and this family deal with their situation has changed my life. Seeing the strength and courage that Bray has shown since his diagnosis astounds me. Last March, I attended the St. Baldrick’s Foundation event with the Sox family and witnessed the outpouring of love and support from friends and family as they shaved their heads for Bray. It was then that I decided to be a St. Baldrick’s participant in 2018 to help raise funds in honor of Bray, who is now 12 years old, still playing baseball, and is determined to beat this cancer.
March 24, 2018
Therefore, on March 24th, I will be shaving my head as part of team #Balding4Bray. Last year’s team raised almost $22K and St. Baldrick’s donated over $50K to the University of South Carolina to purchase new equipment to help in the fight against childhood cancer. As of March 9th, our team is at $17,291 towards our $20,000 goal. I hope that in the next few weeks we crush that goal and have to raise it to $25,000.
Why is St. Baldrick’s important? Because every TWO minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. And childhood cancer is severely underfunded, as only 4% of federal government cancer research funding goes towards childhood cancer. The good news is that you can help. You can donate to our team here:https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/benwilderv. Even $5 helps us reach our goal. And the kicker is that you get to see pictures of me with no hair!
About St. Baldricks
Read more about Bray’s story at https://www.facebook.com/Pray4B/ and https://www.stbaldricks.org/kids/mypage/7621. If you want to know what kind of kid he is and what kind of people his parents are, look no further than this clip from November 2017: http://www.wistv.com/story/36915816/a-giving-spirit-recovering-12-year-old-leukemia-patient-pays-it-forward-to-other-kids-battling-cancer
In full transparency, St Baldrick’s operates on 3% overhead with 25% going to fundraising with 72% of proceeds to grants for cancer research (https://www.stbaldricks.org/financials).
Thank you for your donation!
