Dozens of brave mommas shave their head to support the fight against childhood cancer

Dozens of brave mommas went bald to support the fight against childhood cancer. The group is called “46 Mommas Shave For the Brave. Why 46? The number represents the statistic that each weekday 46 mothers or families will be told their child has cancer.

Going bald is nothing new for Lisa Sanders, one of those getting her head shaved at the event.

She has shaved her head eight times now in memory of her baby girl who died from a brain tumor at just 1-year-old. But for her best friend Judy Sanders her hair has provided her some sort of comfort after losing her little guy who lost his battle with cancer at just 5-years-old.

“I didn't intend to grow my hair out when he died, it just sort of happened, and I didn't want to let go it, and so it's been growing since he died in 2013,” she said. “I've been waiting for her to shave now for a long time, she needed to be ready and now she was it meant everything to me to be able to be shaving next to her and help her through it, she did great, she was ready,” Lisa said.

The pair are part of the “46 Mommas Shave for the Brave.”

This is the first time an event was held in Austin.

The group comes together in different cities across the U.S. to shave heads of mothers who are affected by childhood cancer to raise awareness, and money for pediatric cancer research. Something Lisa said is very important because cancer with kids is much different than adults.

“All the treatments now are based on treating adults and they just don’t work for children, or they don't work well, or they really hurt these kids, so the ones who survive have long term problems,” she said.
 
As a team, the 46 Mommas group has raised more than 2-million dollars since it started in 2010 in hopes no other mommas have to endure similar heartbreak.

“His whole life was gone, all his potential was gone and so this is what we did to focus our efforts on something to try to make something out of his life. To do it in his name and his memory,” Judy said.

“We don't want anybody else to lose their children and this is the best way for us to feel like we are making a difference to keep from that from happening to other families,” Lisa said.

The event was hosted by St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants.