Avoiding a sunburned head

Right before my half marathon, I reached $3,500 raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Great, awesome, I made it $300 over my fundraising minimum. But there's more to it than that.

When I started fundraising, I was freaked out about how much I had to raise. I'd been able to raise smaller amounts before - more like maybe $500-$1000. But this was 3-5 times more! So when I started, I figured there needed to be something big to help get me to my goal.

And that's when I decided that I would shave my head if I reached $3,500. 

When I got to that point, it started to get real.

This is me, yesterday. I last had a haircut in September (I'm horrible about getting haircuts). I have really thick hair. I also let it air dry 99% of the time. It also keeps my head from getting sunburned (minus my part).

This coming Friday, I will put it in small ponytails, and have it shaved off.

I went this past week to a wig shop in Lansing and purchased scarves to wear once it's done. I'm sure there will be some days that I will wear a hat, or maybe no scarf at all. At the wig shop, I had let them know what I was up to when I walked in. There was another woman shopping too, and she told me that it would take about 8 months to grow back. Eek.

But here's the interesting part. I've been feeling a bit of anxiety of this. Not the actual shaving itself, but the aftermath. How people will look at me, what they will think about me and just how will I look to myself.

As I've been dealing with this, it's made me think about how the stress of worrying about your appearance and how others view you is additional stress that those dealing with chemotherapy deal with. You know, as though treatment, insurance and health issues aren't enough.

I can only hope that my experience shaving my head will bring some sort of awareness to what patients go through and help in raising money to find a cure.

I'll be running in the Metro Health Grand Rapids Half Marathon in October and will continue raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My website is: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mi/GrdRpd13/aclock