Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Karen Whitfield gets her head shaved by celebrity barber Jason Winston George, one of the stars of "Grey's Anatomy," at the 46 Mommas: Shave for the Brave event in Los Angeles on July 29. Her five-year-old son Lance was at her side. (SUBMITTED)
Emotional. Inspiring. Empowering.
Those are the words Karen Whitfield used to describe her experience at the 46 Mommas: Shave for the Brave event in Los Angeles.
Whitfield, of Killarney, was one of 46 moms who shaved their heads on July 29 in an effort to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research.
"To meet everybody in person was just fantastic," Whitfield said. "Some of them had the kids there that they were honouring. Unfortunately there were some too, that the kids had passed away, so it was very emotional, but it was great being in contact with everybody that shared something in common."
Whitfield was inspired to fundraise for the cause and take part in the event by her five-year-old son Lance.
At just 23 months old, Lance was diagnosed with an aggressive bone cancer in his mouth and jaw. He underwent six months of chemotherapy and 31 days of radiation at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
It was a frightening time for the family, but fortunately Lance has now been in remission for two years.
"He’s doing well — in December he’ll be at the three-year cancer-free mark," Whitfield said. "Then we change over to scans (from three months to) every six months."
The family was told recently that he will then enter the long-term survivors program and the chance of him getting a relapse in his primary location is less and less as time goes by.
But the chance of Lance getting a secondary cancer like leukemia is increased as the years go on.
"I want people to know he’s doing great at this very moment in time, but we take it day by day," Whitfield said. "Because we just don’t know. There are so many long-term side-effects and they can just show up."
Because of the radiation, Lance lost all but six of his teeth. His lower jaw bone is dead and not growing. When he’s a teenager, it is expected Lance will go through a major reconstructive surgery.
The 46 Mommas organization began in 2010 and established a fundraising goal of $1 million for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. The name stems from the statistic that on any given weekday in the United States, 46 mothers are given the devastating news that their child has cancer.
Through the Childhood Cancer Canada Foundation, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, Karen was chosen to be one of three Canadians involved in the event. She was joined by her husband, Dan, Lance and another son Izaac, 8. Her two older sons didn’t make the trip.
"Most (people) when they were having their hair cut, they were crying, especially obviously the ones that had lost their kids," Whitfield said. "It’s a very hard thing to do, but it’s so important, too. Even though for some of these kids it’s too late, their moms want to do it for the next generation of kids, and it’s just awesome."
Whitfield managed to raise $29,000 — the most out of all the Mommas. Whitfield had her head shaved by "celebrity barber" Jason Winston George, star of "Grey’s Anatomy." The event took place at the Hollywood & Highland Centre.
"Just being up on that stage was unbelievable, there were so many people," she said.
Now that the event is over, Whitfield said she has no plans on stopping. Fundraising for 46 Mommas continues until the end of the year.
"I want to keep going because I want to see a cure," she said.
"There was so many kids there, some were in treatment, some were in wheelchairs and they just don’t know … you just never know, and that’s the hardest part with anybody that’s been affected. Whether they’re still in treatment or whether they’re cancer free, you still don’t know, you have to live every day… you just don’t know the future."
Whitfield hopes the research can develop better treatments for children.
"The treatments that they have are so harsh and so aggressive and that’s where you get all these long-term side-effects," she said.
"They’re not from the cancer, they’re from the treatment."
The money Whitfield raises stays in Canada for childhood cancer research.
To donate to her cause, visit stbaldricks.org/participants/karenwhitfield.
» jaustin@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition August 3, 2012
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Emotional. Inspiring. Empowering.
Those are the words Karen Whitfield used to describe her experience at the 46 Mommas: Shave for the Brave event in Los Angeles.
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Emotional. Inspiring. Empowering.
Those are the words Karen Whitfield used to describe her experience at the 46 Mommas: Shave for the Brave event in Los Angeles.
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