Snipping for a cause
Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Jessica Cunha
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EMC news - University students are going bare in an effort to raise funds to fight childhood cancers. 
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University of Ottawa student Hana Alazem had her hair chopped off for last year's Shave for a Cure event. This year, the faculty of medicine is hoping to raise $60,000.
The University of Ottawa's faculty of medicine is hosting its ninth annual Shave for a Cure event on Friday, Feb. 24, during the Ottawa 67's game at Lansdowne Park.
Students are challenging the public to brave the cold weather and shave their heads - or lop off 10 inches of hair - for Smiling Over Sickness, the volunteer-based non-profit organization run by the medical students at the university. The organization has partnered with the St. Baldrick's Foundation to fundraise for Childhood Cancer Canada.
"Participants, or shavees, are a large part of our fundraising every year," said Pamela Lai, a medical student and the event's co-organizer in a press release.
The students are hoping to raise $60,000 to contribute to pediatric cancer research.
"Every bit counts tremendously towards our goal of $60,000," said Lai.
Other ways to get involved in the fundraising effort include:
- Purchasing a ticket for the Ottawa 67's game for Feb. 24 through the Shave for a Cure website, www.shaveforacure.ca.
- Bidding in the silent auction on site at Lansdowne on Feb. 24.
- Donating online to the event.
Proceeds from tickets bought through the event website are donated and are available until Feb. 20.
"We want Shave for a Cure to keep growing," said Bradley Sarak, a medical student and the event's co-organizer. "We want everyone to crave the shave."
For more information, visit the website at www.shaveforacure.ca.
All donations collected through the University of Ottawa's Shave for a Cure event remain in Canada and go towards funding pediatric cancer research.
Childhood cancers affect hundreds of families each year. According to the Childhood Cancer Canada website:
- About 1,500 new cases of childhood cancers are diagnosed every year.
- There are around 10,000 children living with cancer in Canada today.
- About 78 per cent of these children will survive five years or more because of advances in therapy - an increase of almost 46 per cent since the 1960s.
- About one in four children who are diagnosed with cancer will die.
- In the 1950s, less than 10 per cent of childhood cancer patients could be cured.
- The most common childhood cancers are leukemias, tumours of the brain and nervous system, the lymphatic system, kidneys, bones and muscles.
- Childhood cancers have close to a 75 per cent cure rate.
For more information, visit www.childhoodcancer.ca.
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