Lawn Manor Braves A Shave for St. Baldrick's

In a gymnasium packed with 271 students that sounded more like 2,071, students and faculty at Lawn Manor Elementary School enthusiastically shaved their heads and dyed their hair purple and green for pediatric cancer research.

Lawn Manor’s first-ever St. Baldrick’s event was organized by physical education teacher Brian Cerney. Because it was the school’s first balding, Cerney set a modest fundraising goal of $1,000.

The Oak Lawn school’s kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders surpassed that goal by raising $3,342.71.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Cerney said, who’s wearing a few extra hats in the cold spring weather after getting his head shaved. “I thought our goal was too high at first, but they were able to reach it and go past it.”

St. Baldrick’s was started in 2000, when some insurance executives turned their regular St. Patrick’s Day party into a head-shaving event to raise money for pediactric cancer research, according to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation website.  

Today, the volunteer-driven St. Baldrick’s Foundation has funded more childhood cancer research grants than any other organization outside of the U.S. government. St. Baldrick’s head-shaving events are held around the world in the spring.

Two Lawn Manor students shaved their heads for personal reasons.

Second-grader Nathan Cordova shaved his head in honor of his cousin, Shay, who died at age six of brain cancer. He raised over $400.

Virginia Didonizio was the only girl out of the 56 participating students to shave her head. She did it for her mom, Alexandria, who was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia when Virginia was just learning to crawl.

Sometimes, her mother would be gone a long time getting chemo and radiation treatment. Since a bone marrow transplant, Alexandria Didonizio has been cancer free for two years.

“It has only been the last two years of Virginia’s life that I’ve been healthy,” she said.

Virginia was already donning a pair of feminine earrings so that people wouldn’t think she was a boy. She was looking forward to delving into her mother’s collection of fun hats and scarves from when Alexandria lost her hair undergoing cancer treatment.