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James Beale

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Why do I Shave?

In December 2007 I lost my father, John Beale, to cancer. I look back at that time as the most difficult in my life. My father was 67.

During one of his trips to Sloan Kettering, my father and I watched a mother and father bring their two children in for what I assume was a chemo treatment for one of them, the other had shaved in solidarity. My father turned to me and simply said, "that's not right Jim". Shortly after my father passed away, as my brothers and I looked for ways to keep his spirit alive, I met Dena Sherwood. I knew at that moment, that Dena and her foundation The Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation, would be a way that I could keep my father's fighting spirit alive and help these kids and their families fight a fight they never signed up for.

My wife Annette and I are blessed with three healthy children of our own, Madison (16), Jonathan (13) and Jacquelyn (9). Jacquie, our youngest, never had the opportunity to meet her Pop. That weighs on me in ways that I cannot explain.

I shave today in honor of the children lost, the ones still fighting, their families and my father. We miss you Dad.