Hair Mishaps and Cancer Support

This evening, I decided it was time for Monkey to have a haircut. I got out the clippers and went to work. This is only his second haircut, and I like to trim it on the longest possible setting. Unfortunately, when I was trimming over his ears, I took a big chunk of hair out. The only solution was to trim it much shorter than I had planned. It doesn't look bad, it's just a lot shorter than I prefer.

This reminded me of a similar story that happened to my best friend and her husband. Lisa had leukemia and was in need of a stem cell transplant. The local EMS squad hosted a stem cell/bone marrow donor registry in her honor, and Papa Runner and I both went to sign up. When we got there, we saw her husband Byron had shaved his head. "That's so great," we said. "You shaved your head in support of your wife!" Lisa got an embarrassed look on her face and confessed that she had been giving him a trim and taken off the guide to even up his sideburns. She forgot to put the guide back on, and made a nice strip down the center of his head. It wasn't a show of support at all! We all had a good laugh over it.

Sadly, Lisa lost her battle a few months later. Papa Runner and I are still registered as stem cell/bone marrow donors, and we'd gladly do it if we're ever called. Even better than that, though, would be to find a cure so no one would need to go through what Lisa and her family and friends went through.

Papa Runner and I are raising money through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. We are each running a half marathon early next year. We've already raised almost $4000, but we still need over $2500 more to reach our minimum goals. If you'd like to donate to our cause, you can do so online at our website or by mailing a check made out to LLS to our address. You can find out more about registering as a stem cell donor here. Together, we can find a cure!