Alley 64 to host a St. Baldrick's head-shaving Saturday

Alley 64, 212 W. Main St. in St. Charles, will host a St. Baldrick's Foundation signature head-shaving event to raise funds and awareness for lifesaving childhood cancer research Saturday, April 2. It will start at 2 p.m. and end at 5 p.m. Head-shaving will begin at 2:15 p.m.

With a goal of raising $40,000, nearly 70 participants have registered to shave their heads to support the Foundation's mission to find the best treatments for kids with cancer.

Isaac Parris, one of five 2016 St. Baldrick's Ambassadors, will be shaving for his fourth time! He endured nine rounds of chemotherapy, 30 rounds of radiation and an extensive brain surgery after being diagnosed with medulloblastoma. He had to learn to walk again and lost his hair four times. Today, he shows no evidence of disease. Shaving for St. Baldrick's has become a yearly tradition for Isaac, who begins growing out his hair months in advance for the event. As he gets older, he has begun to understand cancer more and is realize the side effects that came along with his cancer treatment. It's this knowledge and a desire to help other kids with cancer, that motivates him to raise money and shave every year.

For more information, check out the Alley 64 St. Baldrick's event page at www.stbaldricks.org.

Every three minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer; one in five children will not survive. Those who do survive often suffer long-term effects from treatment too harsh for their developing bodies. Kids are special, even when it comes to cancer treatment and the St. Baldrick's Foundation understands the need to treat them that way. Kids deserve the chance to be kids - fun-loving, carefree, refreshingly honest, and always a little goofy. Donations raised at events like this support the development of childhood cancer treatments that are as unique as every kid.