When I was five years old, I was watching TV with my Mimi when a commercial came on for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. At the time, Mimi was in her second battle with cancer, and the chemotherapy that she went through had caused her to lose her hair, resulting in her having to wear a wig. In the commercial, the children on screen had no hair just like her, so I turned around and asked, "Mimi, why do those kiddies look like you?" She told me that they were sick just like her, and had to take the same "medicine", which made them lose their hair. I thought for a second and said, "Well, I have lots of hair! I can just give them mine." What I didn't know was that donating my hair was actually a possibility.
That conversation inspired me to begin a journey that’s now eleven years in the making. On my seventh birthday, I decided to honor Mimi by asking my family to replace any gifts they would normally give me with donations to St. Jude’s, and to give all of the gifts I did receive to St. Jude’s since I “already had enough”. In addition, I held a Build A Bear-St. Jude’s party, where each bear provided an additional donation. That first “Team Jordyn” platform had a goal of $250 and ended up raising a total of $700. To top it all off, I donated my hair for the first time. It was one of the happiest and proudest moments of my young life, and I was determined to not let it be my last donation. Since then, I have donated my hair on my tenth and thirteenth birthdays. Now, on my sixteenth birthday, I will be making my fourth hair donation, as well as my second fundraising campaign for the benefit of St. Jude’s. My goal this year is to raise $1,600 - $100 for every birthday that I’ve had.
Thank you for your consideration and your generosity. This really means a lot to me and my family, and I know that Mimi is proud of everything I’m doing to honor her legacy.