The support for a student with cancer at the Sister Mary Philips School has been overwhelming, with five students offering to donate their hair in order to raise funds for the kindergartener who was diagnosed with stage 4 Neuroblastoma when she was just 4 years old. The school and all of the sudents have gone out of their way to offer support to the student and her family in any way possible. The idea for fundraising came when Hunter Stemmann, a first grader at the school, approached principal Lou Ann Demers-Noble in the hopes of recognizing the fight that his younger sister was going through in order to battle the rare cancer.
According to principal Demers-Noble “(Supporting causes like this) helps our students to be more empathetic and it helps them to grow into kind and caring people. And showing support for one of our own students, I think, was really amazing. We helped raise some money for her family while they were going through the cancer treatment, but this was something just recognizing the importance of the Stollery Hospital.”
The ongoing support for a student with cancer at Sister Mary Philips School in Fort MacMurray has impacted the entire school community. The fundraising effort grew into something bigger than expected. First the prinicpal was approached by 6th grader Cassidy Emberley, and then three more students offered to shave their head and donate hair to raise funds for the family. Demers-Noble explained “The school spirit you could feel in the gym was amazing and the support for those kids who shaved their heads. For a girl particularly, hair is so important, and Grade 6 is … a year when self-confidence is sometimes an issue and having no hair, that takes a lot of strength.”