The parents of 7-year-old cancer patient Hannah Meeson are asking people to mark their calendars for a repeat of last year’s “Heroes for Hannah” shave event this month.
Supporters will have their heads shaved on Friday, Sept. 19, to help raise awareness and funding for pediatric cancer.
Last year, Gaylene and Nigel Meeson and 35 others shaved their heads in a show of solidarity and raised more than $100,000 for childhood cancer research.
Hannah has been battling anaplastic medulloblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, since she was 4 years old.
The shave event, which will be held at The Wicket in Cricket Square from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 19, coincides with September’s Childhood Cancers Awareness Month. Money raised will go to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a childhood cancer research charity in the United States, which works to find cures for kids like Hannah.
The foundation has named a research grant and funding for two years of medulloblastoma research in honor of Hannah Meeson.
Hannah’s story has also drawn support from local supermarket Hurley’s. Each day this month, a sushi chef will prepare the “Hannah Roll of the Day” and for every roll sold, the supermarket will donate one dollar split between the Cayman Islands Cancer Society and the St. Baldrick’s Cancer Research Center.
The Cayman Islands Cancer Society is also hosting a number of educational presentations in an effort to raise awareness of the childhood cancer locally.
“Whether you are 1 or 100, cancer touches us all. No matter your race, gender, beliefs or creed, cancer does not discriminate. Everyone is at risk for cancer,” said Victoria Anderson Gray, project coordinator of the Cayman Islands Cancer Society.
To donate online, visit www.stbaldricks.org/events/heroesforhannah.
This year the shave event coincides with Childhood Cancers Awareness Month and takes place on Sept. 19, at the Wicket in Cricket Square, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
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