When 14-year-old Elizabeth Swanberg heard about Louisa Cryan last summer, she knew she wanted to help.
Cryan, 12, is recuperating from a rare form of Leukemia and lost her hair through radiation and chemotherapy. Swanberg, an Eighth-grader at Catherine Blaine K-8, decided she would raise money for childhood cancer research by having friends and family donate to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. In return, Swanberg would shave her own head.
Little did Swanberg know that her modest attempt at fundraising would grow until she has become a minor Magnolia celebrity. The unassuming teen said she has been taken aback by all the attention she has received from schoolmates and the local community. She currently has raised $2,500 in donations for the foundation, forcing her to boost her overall goal to $3,000.
“My original expectations were that I’d raise maybe $1,000 or $1,500," Swanberg said. "So, $2,500 is way over what I thought I’d be able to raise.”
If Swanberg is going to meet her goal, she has to hurry because the big day is fast approaching: She plans to shave her head at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18, in the hallway between her school and the Magnolia Community Center. The head shaving has turned into a major event for both the school and Magnolia residents. Cryan will have the honor of shaving Swanberg’s head and the hair will be donated to an organization that makes wigs for kids suffering from cancer. For those who are wondering, Swanberg says, yes, her head will be shaved…right down to the scalp.
Swanberg first heard about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and it’s unconventional head-shaving fundraising style from her aunt, Sara Swanberg. The aunt has a close friend whose son, Jackson, was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer when he was just a toddler. Now 6, Jackson is happy, healthy and cancer-free. Jackson’s mom shaves her head every year to raise money for cancer research.
The Magnolia teen decided she would do the same. After enlisting the help of her family and friends, Swanberg set up her participant profile on the St. Baldrick’s website around Christmastime. The profile even includes pictures of her current hair length. While Swanberg wanted to keep the fundraiser relatively low profile, the news spread quickly around her school and neighborhood. Her science teacher, Randy Self, heard about the fundraiser and told his students, even using it as a teaching moment to talk about cancer. Soon, everyone is school was talking to Swanberg about her crazy plan to shave her head. She tried to recruit some of her classmates to join her in the fundraiser, but so far, no takers.
“I even had a couple of friends say that they would give my money not to shave my head,” Swanberg said, with a laugh. Now, that the date is almost here, Swanberg is thinking about the future and possibly other fundraising endeavors. As for whether she would go through the St. Baldrick’s experience again, she isn’t sure.
“I’m not going to rule it out,” Swanberg said. “But I haven’t decided yet. I think I have to wait and see how this ends.”
Anyone interested in donating to Swanberg’s fundraiser can go to St. Baldrick’s website at www.stbaldricks.org, and then type Swanberg’s name into the search area to find her profile. Fundraisers will find a list of donors, a profile of and a profile of Swanberg.
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