BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Community members came together once again to honor and support nearly 100 area families impacted by childhood cancer.
Brave the Shave began in 2008 to help families like the Ungerers whose four-year-old daughter Thea has been battling cancer. Men's Shaving
“A Wilms tumor is a kidney cancer. They ended up having to remove her entire right kidney. She went through 22 weeks of chemotherapy, next week we hit nine months post-chemo,” said Kendra Ungerer, mom to Thea.
The non-profit organization relies on funding from the community and the volunteers that help out. The organization says it’s important to hold this event every year so that families that are going through this difficult time can be there for their child.
“The parent can be by the child’s side during treatment is crucial. Many parents will either loose their job or possibly go bankrupt trying to pay the bills. If Brave the Shave can come in help out and step in and be able to support them, awesome,” said LaShae Graf, executive director of Brave the Shave.
Teams and individuals who have raised money take part in having their heads shaved to show support for childhood cancer. Seeing people come together like this is gratifying for the Ungerer family.
“Families like us that are in, honestly, the worst possible nightmare that a parent can ever imagine. To see such amazing people come to want to support you and help you through that has been one of the most humbling experiences that we have gone through,” said Ungerer.
Although the fundraising and head shaving is important, the Brave the Shave foundation hopes that people take this away from the event.
“Awareness. Childhood cancer is not rare. People like to think it is rare, but it’s not. It’s one of those things that you kind of avoid until it happens to you and for many of these families, they were not a family with childhood cancer until that day they woke up and have that doctor say, ‘Your child has cancer,’” said Graf.
This year, the event raised over $100,000.
This was the 16th annual event. If you would like to help this organization, you can go to their website and click donate.
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