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Mostly Cloudy The faces helped by the shave
Going strong, St. Baldrick’s helps kids all over, even in Rockville Centre
There is no real St. Baldrick.
The name was created by the founders of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation — among them Rockville Centre resident John Bender — combining “bald” (which they were becoming) and “St. Patrick’s” (which was the holiday on which they were doing it).
But for some Rockville Centre families, St. Baldrick is very real, and is doing very important work.
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation was founded in 2004, in part by Rockville Centre resident John Bender. Since its inception, it has raised and donate more than $100 million to research cures to childhood cancer.
“There is a big gap in the funding that takes place between the adults in the kids,” said Lisa Curnuck, whose daughter, Kendall, is a cancer survivor. “It’s one of those things you just don’t realize until it affects you and you read the stats. And it makes you a little sick to your stomach to see your kid go through this treatment that hasn’t changed really since the 1960s.”
Kendall Curnuck, who’s now 12, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) when she was six. She received treatment and has been cancer-free for more than five years. This year, she is having two feet of her hair cut off at the Rockville Centre St. Baldrick’s event to be donate to Hair We Share, a group that makes wigs for those suffering medical-related hair loss.
The Curnucks are far from the only Rockville Centre family affected by childhood cancer. Will Jack, an 11-year-old village resident, had been a participant in St. Baldrick’s shaves for years. He will be missing this year’s shave, though, because he will be receiving treatment for undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma, a type of liver cancer.
Will started with St. Baldrick’s three years ago, joining a few of his friends on his block in getting their heads shaved. This year, 15 of his friends formed Team Will Jack and have raised more than $7,200 in his name.
“[St. Baldrick’s] is a cause we believe in,” said Margo Jack, Will’s mother. “We believed in it before now, and now we really believe in it.”
Margo said the work St. Baldrick’s does is “outstanding” because all of the money goes to researching cancer. And she believes that is one of the reasons her son is doing well today.
