Blaisin Access 137 2014 St. Baldricks Foundation Event

This is the Blaze and access podcast amplifying disability perspective, one story at a time. Today is Tuesday, May 7. I'm Blaze Bryant. Today we go to the events and athletics center at the College of St. Rose. And the first live to tape event I did there was the St. Baldrick's day annual event. Sure, it's easy for us guys to get their head shaven, but I wanted to hear from women who decided to get their head shaved and why.

Megan Mallon. How are you? Pleasure to meet you. Good, thank you. Here, just take a seat right over there. So, Megan, did you shave your head?

Not yet. I'm going to shave my head at 04:00.

Great. So in just a few minutes, then. What made you want to shave your head?

Carly and I decided that in honor of our grandmothers, both of our grandmothers died of cancer this summer. Condolences to both of you.

Yeah.

So we decided that we would do it together and we'd, like, definitely do a lot of money, like, try to raise as much as we could. So we both raised $5,000 together.

Well, both of you put $5,000 together.

Yep.

I was just letting some of the applause, and that's really quite incredible. How much time did you and Carly spend fundraising?

As soon as registration came out, we signed up. So since January, we've been raising. So about three months.

Wow. Three months. $5,000 as a college student. That's really remarkable. Now, I have not had the chance to ask this to anyone because I haven't had a female as a guest. It must be really difficult to part with your hair. It is.

I mean, my hair has been a part of me since, I mean, I was born with a head of hair. And, you know, for girls, it's definitely, you know, more difficult than I think, for guys because it'll take at least two and a half years to grow it back to where it is now. But it's 100% worth the cause. And, you know, it's the least I can do.

I can give back.

I'm so healthy, and, you know, I have healthy hair to give to other.

People, so that's phenomenal. And, Megan, I want to thank you so. Oh, I know what I want to ask you. Are you going to get extensions, or are you getting it all the way shaved?

I'm getting it all the way shaved, so.

All right, well, I'm going to let you enjoy the summer of love of Greece that's playing in the background. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Thank you, Blaze.

And congratulations. On such fundraising success for you and Carly.

Thank you so much.

A pleasure. And right now there are people snapping their fingers to summer love as we try to get someone here on the show. Oh, okay. Isaiah doing Yeoman's work, as I mentioned earlier. Hi, what's your name? Janine. Janine, hi. Oh, my gosh. What a delight to talk with you. Yes. Just take a seat there. Janine Camarada, you are doing the closing remarks here in a couple of hours. And you are also a St. Rose alumnus, right?

I am graduate and undergraduate.

All right. What did you study here?

I studied english literature and political science.

Wow. And so what is it about St. Baldric's day that brought you back here?

Well, I run a foundation called Nick's fight to be healed, and it's a memory of my son Nick, who passed away five years from leukemia. And St. Baldrick's is really important because they raise money to help with research to help cure cancer. And since I was so personally affected by it, I feel it's important to help children and find cures for them and not so. Such harsh side effects from the chemotherapy.

Right. And certainly condolences to you. I can't go any further in the interview without saying. Saying that. So in the closing remarks, kind of give us a little bit of a sneak peek. What is the message that you want to convey?

I want people to know what children with cancer go through and why any little bit that you can give makes such a huge difference to children with cancer.

And how can people find out more information about your foundation?

They can go to fighttobehealed.org.

Dot.

That's fight. And is it to be healed?

Correct.

Okay. So, www.fighttobehealed.org. Well, Janine, I really want to thank you so much. It's been a delight meeting you and I'll be sticking around to hear your remarks in a little while.

Thanks so much.

A great pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. What a treat. So right now we are jumping on the opportunities to try and get guests here the best we can as I search for Isaiah Connor Hicks and John. I couldn't make out the last name. All right, we have a guest here. Hi. Annie. Annie. Annie Blaze Bryant. A pleasure to meet you. Wouldn't mind taking a seat right over here to my right. So you. You just got your head shaved and certainly congratulations.

Well, thank you.

A pleasure. And you're a professor here. What do you teach?

Actually, I'm not. I'm the international student advisor at SUNY Albany.

Oh, wow. So you came all the way here from Suny Albany, I apologize. It's under the impression that you're a professor. So what drew you from SUNy Albany to come here and shave your head?

St. Baldrick's is certainly a great foundation. It's raised a lot of money, and it's an important one for pediatric cancer. I've had several friends who have donated in the past and had their head shaved. But more importantly, I have had a student in the past whose nephew is sick with ocular cancer, and being in Mongolia, he doesn't have access to the kinds of treatment he needs. They have to go. The family has to go to Korea to get him treatment and pay out of pocket 100%.

Oh, my goodness. How is he doing, if you don't mind me asking?

He's hanging in there. He's a fighter.

That's great. And certainly just let some of this applause go here. And unlike over here in the States, the family has to pay 100% out of pocket.

If he were home in Mongolia, the government would take care of it, but they don't have the resources for the treatment he needs, so they have to get it overseas. And of course, the mongolian government isn't going to pay for medical care in Korea.

Sure. That's certainly, you know, I don't want to say understandable, but it makes.

But it's still tragic.

Absolutely. Nonetheless. Is this your first time ever donating?

It is. I've donated my hair in the past for locks of love, but this is the first time having it shaved off completely.

Did you get to hair extensions or you just shaved completely?

You said I shaved completely? Yep.

Wow. Annie, I want to thank you so much for taking the time. It's been a treat meeting you, and best of luck to SuNY Albany in their game against Florida.

Well, we thank you very much.

A great pleasure. Thank you.

You, too.

Take care.

Thanks.

Sure thing. So we are here at the main lounge. About seven minutes left of the taping, and certainly a very upbeat atmosphere, as you can hear in the background, people conversing. Jump on it. Playing in the background. And now some other song. I'm trying to make it out here, and I'm going to do another little bit of inside radio here. Isaiah cannot thank him enough. Asia, you're from mirror images spot slot. Hi, how are you? A pleasure to meet you. There's a microphone right over here.

I'm so sorry.

That say okay.

Is that good?

So you are here from mirror images.

Mirror images spawn salon. We are the salon at Austin School of Spa Technology.

And where is that located.

That is 855 Central Avenue, and it's right next to the Westgate Plaza.

Okay. And you're doing the hair extensions. How did you find out about St. Baldrick's day here? From the College of St. Rose?

Well, actually, we have a really great lady at our school who contacts all kinds of fundraising events, and we try to be a presence at all of them because she's just super aware of these kinds of things. We actually worked with St. Baldricks on Sunday at the barrel saloon downtown, and we raised money for St. Baldricks there also.

Right. And it has to be a win win for you from a business perspective, because here you're raising money for such a great cause, and you're getting, you know, yourselves out there, too, right?

Well, yeah, exactly. It is completely a win win situation, because we are also a school. We have students there, and we know sometimes college kids can be a little hard up for cash.

I know that too well as a senior.

Yep. Right.

So. And at our school, you can come and get your hair cut from. For a guy's cut, as little as $7, because you're a student. And for girls, you can have a cut and color and have actually, the whole shebang for around $25. So you can't beat that.

So looking good doesn't cost that much.

Exactly.

Right.

Are the students here doing the hair extensions?

Actually, that would be me. I just recently graduated from Austin's about a month and a half ago.

Congratulations.

Thank you so very much. And, yeah, I'm here. I'm doing the hair extensions. I'm also doing glitter tattoos. But, yeah, I think a lot of people want their glitter tattoo on their head. And I'm not so sure how it's sticking with this double, but, yeah, it's great.

That's great. Is there anything else that you would like to add about what you're doing here today, or.

No, I mean, I've been thoroughly entertained. It's so great to be here and, you know, hear these people's stories and why they're choosing to bald their heads for St. Pauldricks today, and just that, you know, seeing everybody come together, it's so nice, whether you're singing, which I know you guys had some singers here, and people dancing, and, you know, just enjoying coming together for a really, really great cause.

Absolutely. Aisha, thank you so much for taking the time to join the show. I very much appreciate it.

Thank you for having me here.

A great pleasure. Congratulations.

Thank you.

You bet.

Blazandshowsmail.com b l a I S I N shows mail.com follow the Blaze and Access podcast wherever you get your podcasts and on social media, Facebook and xlays and shows. And if you have a minute or two, I'd be grateful if you left a rating and review that helps other people find the show as well. Transcripts are AI generated and are not perfect, but they do give you a baseline sense as to what I'm talking about here on the show. Tune in for part three of our rewind tomorrow. I'm Blaze Bryant. Thank you for listening to the Blaze and access podcast amplifying disability perspective one story at a time. Have a great day.