Second Grade Heroes

Karen M. Lacosse

How twenty second-grade boys got together to show their support of a classmate with leukemia.

I really must share this story because I am incredibly touched by my nephew's incredible heart!

Sam is a little boy in Mikey's class who was diagnosed with leukemia about three weeks ago. Sam's parents have been very honest with his 2nd grade classmates, explaining his hospitalization and treatments. This information has deeply affected Mikey...he is very fond of Sam.

When Mikey found out that Sam was going to lose all of his hair from chemo, he wanted to shave his head so Sam wouldn't feel all alone. Mikey mentioned this to some of his classmates who went home and shared it with their parents. Before you knew it, the parents and kids organized, started calling all of their relatives (for pledges to help with Sam's medical bills), contacted the media and wrangled my sister-in-law (a hairdresser) to do the shaving.

All twenty of the little boys in Sam's grade shaved their heads yesterday afternoon. It was on all our local news stations (Mikey's bald face smiling at the cameras...it actually made me tear up). They raised $6,000 for Sam...and the best part, the TV stations brought a video of the Shaving Session to the hospital for Sam to see.

There he was, in his hospital bed wearing a baseball cap. They filmed him as he watched his friends getting their heads shaved...it was incredibly sweet. At the end of the story, they interviewed Sam, who took off his hat and thanked his classmates. He'll be returning to school on Thursday and said he won't feel weird now because everyone will look the same.

©2002 by Karen M. Lacosse. All rights reserved. Distribution via e-mail, disk, print, or any other form is prohibited under U.S. copyright law without express permission of the author.