Maury Morejon from Lehigh Acres Fire Control & Rescue District with an unidentified youth. PHOTO PROVIDED

Maury Morejon, a firefighter/paramedic from Lehigh Acres Fire Control & Rescue District, was one of 32 participants during Golisano Children’s Hospital Clips for Cancer event on Friday. The Clips for Cancer event was created to raise awareness and donations to help local kids with cancer.

According to Morejon, while he is blessed to never have gone through this with a loved one, his heart goes out to those battling childhood cancer.

“This was something I really wanted to do for these kids. Anything I can do to help put a smile on these angels’ faces,” said Morejon.

Morejon, who has two young boys himself, is currently a firefighter/paramedic at the district’s station 101 on Joel Blvd. He started with the Lehigh fire department a little over two years ago.

Morejon was one in a group of “hero sidekicks” who had their heads shaved by pediatric cancer patients to raise awareness and drive philanthropic support to help local children with cancer. Golisano Children’s Hospital Chief Administrative Officer, Armando Llechu, alongside 30 others including doctors and team members, community leaders, first responders and influential individuals from Southwest Florida took part in “Clips for Cancer” event.

Llechu had his head shaved by McKenzie Hummer who, 10 years ago, was diagnosed with an aggressive, cancerous brain tumor called medulloblastoma. Over the years she has undergone 20 surgeries, 30 radiation treatments, 10 months of chemotherapy, numerous hospital stays and doctor visits. She is just one example of the strong young hero’s that continues to defy the odds every day.

According to Tiffany Whitaker, APR at Lee Health, the event was a great success.

“In all 32 people got their head shaved. We even had two women who showed up and decided to shave their heads at the last minute. One of the woman participating had long, beautiful brown hair. It was a very emotional day,” said Whitaker.

The children, along with a group of 12 volunteers, were set up at nine separate hair clipping stations. Celebrity barber Yoshi of Blackbeard Company also donated his skills to clean up the volunteer side-kicks.

“The kids really got a kick out of it. Some of the kids are currently getting chemo so they were weaker and needed to take breaks throughout the event, but were still so excited. Volunteers were close by to help,” said Whitaker.

According to Whitaker, the hospital will definitely be doing the same event next year.

“We always try to host the event close to the end of September, during Pediatric Cancer Awareness month.

Donations from the day went to Barbara’s Friends Golisano Children’s Hospital Cancer Fund.

For more than 20 years Barbara’s Friends has supported lifesaving cancer care for children from across Southwest Florida at Golisano Children’s Hospital. The Pediatric Hematology/Oncology program is the only program of its kind in Southwest Florida. No child is denied treatment or turned away as a result of their family’s inability to pay for care.

For more information visit www.leehealthfoundation.org/barbaras-friends.asp