Sofia’s shave

“We knew Sofia had an impact on the kids at school, but we had no idea it was so huge. Her shave event started out really small, but it just kept growing, with more and more kids shaving their heads”—Sofia’s mother Shelly Bhayana.

Sofia is just one of those kids other kids gravitate to. It’s no wonder. She’s loving and kind and always happy. At age six, she already makes a point of helping others, visiting other people going through cancer and baking cookies for her friends.

Sofia is also a cancer survivor, diagnosed with medullablastoma in May 2014—just before her fifth birthday. She endured repeated rounds of chemotherapy, followed by three stem cell transplants and finally proton therapy.

But the very treatments that saved Sofia’s life, also forever changed her life. Suffering from treatment-related brain injury, Sofia now requires a walker for mobility, hearing aids and has speech impairment.

“After her surgery, Sofia was initially totally paralyzed,” says mom. “It was terrifying. She couldn’t talk, move or see. She was completely mute and blind. She couldn’t hug us for three months. This was the girl who was doing summersaults and jumping on the trampoline the week before her diagnosis.”

Although Sofia may never be fully independent again, she never gives up. She fights every day to get better. With intense therapy (up to three hours a day) Sofia has regained the ability to walk with a walker, talk with friends and family, feed herself and write again.

Despite her struggles, Sofia rarely complains. Little things bother her like why she can’t run or pull on her socks by herself like her brother or sister can. As much as she may want to, Sofia can’t do these things because she has balance issues related to the treatments she received.

But, for the most part, Sofia is a bright and cheerful child. An absolute joy to be around.

“When I drop her off at school in the morning, all the little girls line up to hug her,” says Mom. “It’s so sweet. The kids in her class have been so welcoming and supportive.”

Sofia drew a similar line of support last May, when students and family lined up to shave or decorate their lid for a kid to raise funds and awareness for Kids Cancer Care.

Sofia’s parents, Shelly Bhayana and Naushad Hirani, her little sister Sonya and big brother Shaan cut or shaved off their hair. It was Sonya’s first hair cut and she donated 14 inches of hair to Angel Hair for Kids. Uncles, cousins and grandparents too joined in on the fun and shaved their lids. The students at Briar Hill School also stepped up and shaved their heads.

Sofia’s family has enjoyed Kids Cancer Care Family Camps and Family Ski Day and the kids have enjoyed our summer camp programs, so when the family decided to plan a cancer fundraiser, Kids Cancer Care was an obvious choice.

What they didn’t know right away was how they would raise funds. They considered various options, but when Sofia said, “Mommy, I’m not going to have any hair, but I did have cancer and I’m okay now, so maybe we should do a shave event,” she hit the bull’s eye!

“Sofia’s hair may never grow again because the chemo and radiation damaged all the hair follicles,” says Shelly, “but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be part of a shave event in her name.”

The Hirani family couldn’t have been more right. Together, Sofia’s family and friends at school raised over $17,000 for Kids Cancer Care. Sofia brought in $9,105, making her one of our top shave fundraisers this year. Congratulations Sofia!

Thank you Sofia, for inspiring so much love and generosity in others.

Thank you to all the participants and donors involved in the Briar Hill School Shave Your Lid or Decorate Your Lid for a Kid event. The money you raised is enough to send 11 kids affected by cancer to summer camp next year.

Before Kevin and Cameron Olmats were old enough to understand, their brand new baby brother became very sick. Little Ethan was only three months old, when he was diagnosed with infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although his time on earth was brief, Ethan made a lasting impression on everyone he met—especially his big brothers.

Ethan’s brothers meant the world to him. His little face would light up in a smile every time they visited him at the hospital. And, Mom and Dad made sure that was often. From the beginning, they included the older boys in Ethan’s cancer journey, while also juggling work schedules and extracurricular activities to ensure that life for Cameron and Kevin, who were three and seven at the time, remained relatively normal.

It’s an approach they maintain today. They speak openly about Ethan and the loss of his joyful presence.

“During our Christmas dinner last year, we were talking about Ethan and how his next birthday, in May, would have been his first double digit birthday. The big 10!” says Mom, Colleen Olmats. “We talked about what we should do to commemorate the milestone. Ideas were going back and forth and then Kevin said, ‘I know what we should do to make it special and make it mean something. I’ll shave my head in memory of Ethan!'”

That’s when Cameron chimed in, “So will I!” That was it. It was decided.

The boys didn’t cut their hair again from that point forward and they started spreading the word about their shave in Ethan’s name. When they discovered that William Aberhart High School was holding a shave event on June 2, Kevin and Cameron joined their ranks.Together, the Olmats brothers raised over $5,000, bringing William Aberhart High School’s fundraising total to over $8,000.

Kevin and Cameron know first-hand the impact Kids Cancer Care programs can have in the lives of kids and families like theirs, so raising money for the foundation was a natural choice for them.

The Olmats first encountered Kids Cancer Care during Pizza Nights at the hospital when Ethan was on treatment. During Weekly Pizza Nights, they met other families on the unit as well as Kids Cancer Care volunteers, whose own children had also been through cancer. These volunteer parents would become lifelong friends, offering the Olmats support throughout Ethan’s cancer journey and beyond.

“They became a lifeline for my parents and Cameron and I,” says Kevin. “It’s hard to talk to friends about cancer when they’ve never experienced it themselves. They try, but they can’t really relate, so they can’t really offer support in the ways you  need it. These friends could. And it was Kids Cancer Care that brought these friends to us.”

The Olmats family soon started going to Cool Yule, Family Camp, Family Ski Days, summer camp and much more, where they found healing and comfort in their darkest time.

“I still remember the love I felt from Tracey Huddy [former Kids Cancer Care social worker] as we sat on the stone of the fireplace at Camp Kindle and talked about Ethan’s death,” says Kevin. “I don’t remember the words now, but I do remember she gave me exactly what I needed at that time to feel like I could one day be whole again. She helped me to understand the feelings I was going through and that what I was experiencing was a normal part of the grieving process.”

“Just being with other families like ours has helped us immensely with our healing journey,” says Colleen. “They helped show us we could laugh again without feeling guilty. They helped us to become strong again, to live again and to keep moving forward with our lives–just as Ethan would want us to.”

Thank you, Kevin and Cameron! You are shave superheroes!

And thank you to all the brave students of William Aberhart High School, who shaved their heads and raised funds for young people like Kevin and Cameron, whose lives have been interrupted by childhood cancer.

“Gabriel has had a Mohawk since pre-school. It’s his identity. I don’t know why but he’s always insisted on keeping it. We’ve been encouraging him for years to cut it, but he never would, until now,”–Gabriel’s mom Stephanie Lynn.

The Mohawk has been Gabriel’s signature look ever since he was a youngster. But about a month before his father’s 50^th birthday,12-year-old Gabriel suddenly announced that he was getting rid of the Mohawk.

“I want to get rid of it,” he said. “I want to cut it off at dad’s birthday party and raise money for Kids
Cancer Care.”

Gabriel and his younger brothers Shaine (10) and Darius (8) have been participating in Kids Cancer Care’s camp and outreach programs for years—from Pizza Nights at the hospital when Shaine was on treatment, to fun and adventure at Camp Kindle. Gabriel felt it was time to give back.

“He came up with this all on his own,” says Stephanie. “I don’t know what changed; if it’s because he’s going into junior high next year or if it’s because of all the change we’ve had this year, but something shifted and now he’s done with it.”

As with many Albertans, the Lynn family has had a tough year in 2016. Mom lost her job and Dad has lost most of his contract work. With grade seven on the horizon for Gabriel, maybe it seemed like the right time for a change. Whatever his reason for making the change, Gabriel raised a fair chunk of change for Kids Cancer Care.

“His goal was $500, but he raised $1,275,” says Stephanie. “He wanted to raise enough money to send a kid to camp.”

It costs $1,500 to send one child to Camp Kindle for one week, so Gabriel was very close. You can help Gabriel meet his goal of sending one child to camp, by donating here.

Thank you Gabriel! You’re a shave hero!