Going Bald for Brower

John's work, Mueller Industries, have been working on a fundraiser for the last couple of weeks.  When they originally came to John with the idea, they were thinking of raising money to help us with medical bills.  Fortunately for us, we have pretty good insurance (through them) and are lucky to see so much paid for.  He said no on the money for bills, so they decided to donate to a charity and he chose St. Jude.  

The event was called Going Bald for Brower and many people at his work quickly got on board to begin fundraising.  If the participants received enough money, they would shave their heads.  

I overheard a couple of the guys who helped put it together say they were hoping for maybe six people to participate…well what next happened was pretty amazing.  

This is Marc.  He was one of the guys who put it all together.  Standing next to him is a coworker at the Covington plant.  Since he couldn't be there Friday, they had his picture sitting out.  =)

This was when John walked in.  Marc went over all the donations prior to the shavings.  

They had a couple of barbers come in to help.  One does events like this often for St. Jude.  She lost a niece to cancer so it meant a lot to her.  Her boss sent a donation and of course she gave a sweet speech at the end, which certainly made me tear up 

I stole some pictures off Facebook from one of John's coworkers.  Here are some before and after pictures of SOME of them.  

Charles 

Tom

Miles

Charles

They all didn't have short hair either!


Benjamin

Clayton

Paul

And they weren't all men!  TWO women shaved their heads.  It was truly so inspiring.  Being a woman, I cannot imagine shaving my head (obviously, because I didn't do it myself).  They both raised a ton of money.  Just amazing.

Velisa on the left, Dawna on the right. 

These pictures are just awesome. 

Just as beautiful bald. =)

I am so thankful my work let me get out of there early so I could see it.   Many people had been touched by cancer and shaving their head may have had an even deeper meaning that just the event that day.   But to see TWENTY-ONE people come together for cancer research/John…I can't even describe it.  It was something I will never forget.

I can't stop thinking about a couple of things: 

I have an amazing husband.  I've always known he was one of the nicest, most honest people in the world, but it is so nice to see so many others acknowledge it.  Being a kind person makes others want to be kind.  

What an awesome group of people.  I don't even have to write that, because it is so obvious to anyone who sees these pictures.  I have never seen love and support like that, especially in a working environment.  You hear stories now and then about similar events, but it is truly something to witness.  I know John will be forever grateful to them. 

All of these people will have an impact on someone else's life.  In the 70's, testicular cancer had a survival rate of 10%.  Because of cancer research and finding these chemo drugs that work wonders for this type of cancer, the survival rate is 95% today.  And it is all because of people who care enough to  fundraise for great organizations like St. Jude.   

They have raised about $6,500 and their goal is $10,000.  I will put the link on here in case anyone wants to donate before Friday.  John will go with them then to personally deliver the check.  What a moment that will be.  

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/event/page/displayEventPage.do?programName=vemspecial&eventId=368387