9 Year Old Helping Raise Funds to Conquer Childhood Cancer

The annual St. Baldrick's - Bolingbrook 4 Kids is scheduled for Sunday, March 10, 2019 from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Bolingbrook Golf Club. The event includes many fun activities for people of all ages including many huge raffle items, performances by Irish dancers, and much more! There is no charge to attend the event and food will be available for donation sale from local restaurants. Among the hundreds of "shavee's" at the event is Teleia Randall (9) of Bolingbrook.

Teleia is a 4th grade student at Liberty Elementary She loves playing Fortnite, teaching herself songs on the piano through YouTube, and hanging out with her friends and big sister Paige (16). This school year, she wanted to join in with some of her schoolmates and friends and shave her head to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Unfortunately, cancer is no stranger to Teleia, she had a dear friend and neighbor pass away from cancer a few years back, her dad has been in remission for the past 9 years from Hairy Cell Leukemia with patches of skin cancer removed every 2-3 months over the past 3 years. Teleia’s current 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Brinker at Liberty Elementary is going through treatment for breast cancer. Although none of them are children, she saw the opportunity to help with cancer research and didn't think twice about shaving her head. Initially, when her parents asked her what inspired her to shave her head, her answer was "Daddy." Then, when she found out her teacher this year will be in and out of the classroom because of treatments and doctor appointments because of her breast cancer, she told her teacher that she wanted to shave her head in honor of her too.

Her parents are so proud of her. Teleia was adopted at 23 months old from China and at that time, she had very little hair and they couldn't wait for it to grow in. “It's going to be hard to see her go back to that very short hair when we first adopted her, we waited so long to see it grow in! But we are so proud of her and what a caring little girl she has become,” Teleia's mom said.

St. Baldrick’s is a wonderful organization that helps to raise funds through the yearly shaves for pediatric cancer. According to their website, more children are lost to cancer in the U.S. than any other disease —in fact, more than many other childhood diseases combined. With only 4% of federal government cancer research funding goes to study pediatric cancer organizations like St. Baldrick’s can make a huge impact. Because treatments are often outdated, the battle is not over even for kids who survive. A recent study shows that because of the treatments they had as kids, by the time they’re 45, more than 95% of survivors will have a chronic health problem and 80% will have severe or life-threatening conditions.

If you would like to support Teleia with a donation, she is part of the Orange House Crusaders and she has a donation page through St. Baldrick's that can be found by clicking here.

Article Submitted By Michael Carpanzano, Volunteer Bolingbrook Patch Mayor