The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Volume 45: Issue 124
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Ndsmcobserver.com
The Bald & The Beautiful Students shave heads to raise funds, awareness for St. Baldrick’s Foundation
South Bend teen used faith, hope to beat cancer By SARAH MERVOSH
By SARAH MERVOSH
Senior News Writer
Senior News Writer
SARAH O’CONNOR/The Observer
Junior Michael O’Brien shaves his head at last year’s Bald and the Beautiful. This year’s event is today through Friday. By MARISA IATI Associate News Editor
For the past four springs, members of the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s communities shaved their heads and fundraised to support St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s childhood cancer research. Senior Catherine Soler, organizer of The Bald and the Beautiful (TBAB), said the initially small-scale project has grown into a three-part event, involving more than 1,500 people last year. Soler said TBAB, held Wednesday through Friday in the LaFortune Student Cen-
ter, was born in 2009 when the Freshman Class Council service committee hosted a St. Baldrick’s event. She said approximately 150 people helped raise $26,000 the first year. “The next year we were like, ‘Well, we want to open it up. We want to be able to include more people, people who maybe don’t want to shave their head, but want to be a part of it,’” Soler said. The committee created an option for people to purchase hair extensions and donate their hair to benefit Pantene
see HISTORY/page 6
It was every mother’s worst nightmare. Tonya Ebright of Elkhart was only 22, juggling a toddler, an infant and a full-time job when her daughter started sleeping more than usual and complaining that her bones hurt. When she took 3-year-old Destinee Smith to the doctor’s office, she was told her daughter had strep throat. Another time, it was scarlet fever. But Ebright knew something more was going on. Eventually, Ebright obtained an appointment at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. There, Ebright got an answer: her daughter had leukemia. “It was a huge life adjustment,” Ebright said. “Your normal becomes different.” After the diagnosis, Destinee had to be taken to the hospital three times a week for treatment, and was often hospitalized for days at a time as she battled high fevers. During those bouts of fever, Destinee sometimes experienced
see CHILDREN/page 4
Photos Courtesy of Destinee Smith
Destinee Smith, a high school junior, was diagnosed with lukemia at age three.
PAT COVENEY/The Observer
Seventeen -year - old Paige Robison, who over came childhood lukemia, will speak at this year’s event.
Nobel Prize winner lectures on justice, social change By AMY KLOPFENSTEIN News Writer
Harvard professor and 1998 Nobel Prize winner in Economics Amartya Sen delivered the 18th annual Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy Tuesday night. Sen is also this year’s recipient of the Notre Dame Award for International Human Development and Solidarity. His lecture stressed the importance of positive so-
Inside today’s paper
cial change in the world. University President Father John Jenkins welcomed Sen and praised his work in justice and development. “[Sen’s work] touches the heart of what we are about at Notre Dame,” Jenkins said. Sen opened his lecture with a quote from Nietzsche about humanity’s tendency to focus on the negative aspects of life. Rather than contradicting Ni-
see LECTURE/page 5
Name: Kalie Holdren Year: Sophomore Funds Raised: $400
DILLON WEISNER/The Observer
Harvard professor and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen lectures in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on Tuesday.
When sophomore Kalie Holdren first dyed her hair electric blue a few weeks ago, she got a lot of “strange looks.” But once in awhile, someone will ask her why she did it, and she’ll get the chance to explain. “I decided to do it all blue when I realized that I could kind of promote [The Holdren Bald and the Beautiful] and also ovarian cancer specifically, after finding out that blue was the awareness color for it.” But come Thursday, Holdren will say goodbye to her unusual hairdo in exchange for another one when she shaves her head to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Because Holdren had previously dyed her hair natural colors, she was unable to donate her hair. Instead, she decided to dye her hair blue and then shave it to raise awareness for cancer. Holdren said she was inspired because her mother is a survivor of melanoma, and her uncle and grandfather both passed away from cancer-related causes. “Cancer is kind of prevalent in my family,” she said. By dyeing and then shaving her hair, Holdren said she hopes to support and be in solidarity with individuals with cancer. “Having dyed my hair blue kind of gives me the same sense of having something different from everyone else,” she said. “Everyday I kind of have to explain why it’s blue. And then when I shave my head, I’m going to have to explain why I won’t have hair. In a way, that kind of relates to how people who have cancer [have to explain.]” Holdren has raised $400 so far and will donate the funds when she shaves her head Thursday. “A lot of people ask me if I’m nervous and to be perfectly honest, I’m not really that nervous about it,” she said. “I know that it will help people.” Contact Sarah Mervosh at smervosh@nd.edu
Senior wins design competition page 3 u Viewpoint page 8 u Style with Sean page 10 u Brothers bond on and off the baseball field page 20