ORINDA, Calif. (KRON) -- Garrett Stepanek, a 10-year-old boy from Orinda and his father are shaving their heads this Sunday to raise money for pediatric cancer research. Garrett is going bald in honor of his late brother, Camden, who died in 2022 after a six-year battle with leukemia.
The family is participating in the 19th annual St. Baldrick's Foundation head-shaving event, hosted by the East Bay community and Children's First Medical Group at Almanac Beer Company in Alameda. The Stepanek family aims to raise $13,000 -- $1,000 for every year Camden would be alive today as a 13-year-old.
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The head-shaving tradition has become an annual event for the family in the years following Camden's death. Megan Stepanek, Camden and Garrett's mother, explained the meaning behind shaving their heads.
“It symbolizes that we are willing to make sacrifices -- much like they have to sacrifice their childhood and their freedom,” Stepanek said. “He fought for so long. He fought for six years and he fought back from the brink several times. And, you know, he's no longer here, but it's our responsibility as his family to continue to fight in his memory.”
Garrett Stepanek recalled watching his older brother fight leukemia over six years.
“When the light shines, I always think about Cam cause he shines light on people,” Garrett said. “If it's a hard cancer like what Cam had -- leukemia -- it's gonna be a hard breakthrough in the fight. So, it was pretty hard to see that in person.”
He emphasized the need to raise funds to support medical breakthroughs. “It should not happen again. That's why we should find a cure and we should try to get this done with by raising money,” Garrett added.
According to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, one in five children with cancer do not survive their diagnosis. Since 2005, head-shaving events organized by the foundation have raised more than $380 million for childhood cancer research.
The 19th annual St. Baldrick's Foundation head-shaving event is scheduled to take place Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Almanac Beer Company in Alameda.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
