Give Back!

Hello World!

I'm asking everyone, and I mean everyone to please, PLEASE donate! All donations got to Childhood Cancer Research. One of my best friends (Chelsea) and her fiance (Matt) are raising funds and participating in an event called St. Baldrick's. I would be forever grateful to anyone who donates. It is for a wonderful cause.

This is the story she has shared with me and I share with you...

Hi Friends + Family,

You may remember that Matt and I have both participated in fund raising for St. Baldrick's Foundation for the past two years through New Britain EMS where he works as an EMT (although only Matt shaves his head!)

On Saturday, March 19, NBEMS is sponsoring an event to benefit St. Baldrick's, the world's largest volunteer-driven fund raising event for childhood cancer research. At the event, volunteers shave their heads in solidarity of children with cancer, while requesting donations of support from friends and family.

This year, Matt is co-coordinating the entire event, and along with many of his co-workers, will be shaving his head. I will be volunteering at the event as well. This is such a worthy cause, and I'm very proud that Matt is heading up this year's effort in addition to working (more than) m full time, attending paramedic school, serving as part of NBEMS's conference team in Baltimore next month AND helping me plan our wedding – PHEW! (Plus, seeing him with his bald head in past years wasn't so bad – I kinda thought he was handsome! Don't worry...it will grow back by the wedding!)

What makes this cause particularly relevant to us is that in 2008, coincidentally right before the inaugural St. Baldrick's event, Matt's cousin RJ who was 8 years old at the time, had a tumor about the size of a golf ball in his brain, and underwent immediate surgery. It was a very shocking, scary experience, but RJ's surgery went well and they were able to remove all but about 2% of the tumor, which was, unfortunately, determined to be malignant. Since then, RJ has recovered amazingly and is a happy, healthy kid (who loves playing football for North Branford). RJ's story is one of many, and all of them are a testament to the importance that good funding has on the lives of children with pediatric cancer and their friends and family.

The event goal is $10,000, and of course we'd love to surpass that benchmark. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to give back, particularly having gone through RJ's experience in '08.

Please consider a sponsorship donation for St. Baldrick's. Every penny helps bring us closer to our fund raising goal -- every little bit counts!

For more information on NBEMS's St. Baldrick's event or to support Matt and his bald head, visit his page. Donations can be made through Matt's page online, by phone or via snail mail. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks for reading and, as always, for your love and support!

Thank you,
Chelsea + Matt

This is the link to Matt's page... http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/423252

Matt at St. Baldrick's last year.

Matt and RJ.

Thank you in advance and please pass this along to anyone you think would be interested! Much Love!

Breathe Easy