As of late yesterday, I once again look like the photo on the Open Sources blog masthead. (That's me on the right hand side with the glasses.) For those who may not have noticed, I was growing my hair for the past two years. As I explained to my boss Marten Mickos (and to the MySQL board), late last year, it wasn't a mid-life crisis. Rather, I was growing my hair to donate it to Locks of Love, a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to children in the US and Canada suffering from long term medical hair loss, mostly due to alopecia and sometimes due to cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.
Though I've kept a low profile on what I was doing and why, I thought I'd at least let folks know, now that it's done. And for those who wonder why, my decision was to commemorate my mother's death. She died of ovarian cancer two years ago July 4.
Ovarian cancer occurs in 1 in 55 women at any age, but usually over 50. Approximately 25,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. It is the 5th leading cause of cancer death among US women, with an estimated 14,500 deaths each year. Unfortunately, 75% of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed after the disease has reached an advanced stage.
Update:
As was pointed out in the comments, there is some question regarding the efficiency of Locks for Love in a New York Times article. So I will also investigate Wigs for Kids and Pantene Beautiful Lengths also.
Posted by Zack Urlocker on July 18, 2008 12:15 PM
