Nurse of the Week: Baylor Nursing Students Shave Heads to Raise Money for Children’s Cancer Research

Our Nurses of the Week are from Baylor’s Student Nurses Association (BSNA). Recently, the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing served as a temporary hair salon, when students and faculty shaved their heads in solidarity with children who lose their hair during cancer treatment. The BSNA worked with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money for cancer research.

According to St. Baldrick’s Foundation, cancer kills more children in the US than any other disease and worldwide a child is diagnosed with cancer every two minutes. Thanks to great strides in research, 90 percent of children who are diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of cancer, now survive. However, there are over a dozen types of childhood cancer and many of them offer little hope of a cure. Kaitlyn Po, a senior nursing student and president of BSNA, tells Baylor.edu,

“As future nurses, we feel passionate about finding service events revolved around the healthcare community and impact a specific patient population, such as pediatric cancer patients.”

Pediatric cancers only received four percent of the National Cancer Institute budget in 2011, so St. Baldrick’s is trying to fill the funding gap. Money raised by St. Baldrick’s funds research for all childhood cancer to help find cures and improve supportive care for young patients and their families. Libby Rosonet, MSN, RN, lecturer in the Baylor School of Nursing, believes that the future of pediatric cancer is in research. The only way to help keep that research going is through funding, and fundraising ideas like BSNA’s going bald event is a creative way to make it happen.