During this year’s spring assembly, several students and teachers have pledged to shave their heads in order to raise awareness for cancer patients. Among these students is junior Olivia Dang who took it to social media to heighten awareness for St. Baldrick’s.
“A couple years back, my cousins did this and, since then, it’s been on my bucket list,” Dang said. “Not only is this for a great cause, but I also get to experience at least a little of what kids with cancer are going through. I’m hoping that this will also give me more of an open mind and widen my eyes a bit along the way.”
When Dang revealed on Facebook on the 2017 class page that she would be shaving her head, the response she received was overwhelming, capturing the attention of the entire junior class among others. Dang was showered with praise and encouragement for her decision, but that was all unimportant to her.
“Although I appreciated everybody’s support, if I’m being honest, I felt a little bit uncomfortable,” she said. “People were showering me with compliments, calling me brave and an inspiration, and it was kind of awkward. I don’t feel like I deserved those titles. I understand that I’m doing a nice thing, but the brave ones are the ones that are fighting those cancer cells.”
Dang took it to Facebook to raise awareness for St. Baldrick’s not only for the reason that teenagers would be aware of people affected by cancer, but also develop compassion and learn to not judge their peers as well.
“I’m really hoping that students will try to be more compassionate to each other,” Dang said. “We never really know what others are going through. Making negative snap judgments about one another based on how we look means that we don’t really leave room to actually get to know who these people are.”
Dang not only thought raising awareness for the cancer was important, but she specifically wanted to focus on children with cancer. Every year, 13,500 children are diagnosed with cancer and nearly a quarter of those kids die as kids. Nearly half die from other illnesses that take over their body due to their weakened immune system caused by cancer.
“Although cancer is rough for anybody who’s going through it, I think that kids with cancer have it particularly rough,” Dang said. “While most kids are playing with plastic trucks or worrying about their crush, these kids are stuck in hospital rooms, fighting for their lives. Even if they do fully recover, a lot of their childhood has been stripped away from them.”
Dang’s decision to donate her hair to St.Baldrick’s was impacted by a series of events that took place in her life, the first being her family’s personal struggle with cancer.
“One of the more obvious reasons is to show solidarity and to help fund pediatric cancer research,” she said. “Although I don’t personally know anybody who has childhood cancer, my family recently discovered that we have something called lynch syndrome, which means that we’re more susceptible to certain cancers. Unfortunately, most of the adults on my mom’s side of the family has or has had cancer and, sadly, some lost the battle.”
Friend and fellow classmate junior Charlotte Barnes said she thinks Dang’s decision to take such a large stand was admirable.
“I think it’s so courageous of Olivia to do that and personally I don’t think I’d be able to do that. The fact that’s she’s willing to do it is so admirable of her and also considering that her mom has had cancer I can relate and understand why it’s so important to her,” Barnes said.
Besides helping cancer patients Dang wants to make a large statement regarding society’s view of women with short hair or what is discovered ‘pretty’ in this day and age.
“I think that society has set this ridiculous beauty standard for women,” Dang said. “In order to be considered ‘beautiful,’ we must have long, flowy locks of hair. Not only is this detrimental to those who have lost their hair while battling cancer, but for all women who feel as if they must conform to these standards to be considered pretty. Although first impressions are important, these kids that are battling cancer obviously have bigger problems to worry about; most of us do.”
Although she is looking forward to the assembly, Dang does have fears and is nervous about going on stage in front of the entire school.
“I’m extremely nervous! I have terrible stage fright so going in front of the entire school is something that makes me a bit anxious. I’m also terrible clumsy so I have a terrible feeling I’m going to trip and fall in front of the entire school,” Dang said.
Teachers are happy to see other students step up to help others.
“I think it’s amazing to see a high school kid have such a solid understanding of the importance of doing something greater than yourself. It makes me proud to know that there are students here who are willing to sacrifice their own looks for a short period of time to help out kids who really need the help. I hope that it can serve as inspiration for other students here to do the same and doing something for someone who is less fortunate,” dean Tim Dykes said.
