Kobro's Cancer Crew #13: I'm bald!

June 10, 2025

Over the past few days, we received another ~$1k for the fundraiser, bringing the total raised to $11,141. Aside from a few pending donations, that brings an end to our fundraiser... and an end to my hair.

Check it out — I'm bald, baby!

David with his newly shaved bald head after the fundraiser event

The picture above is from our "shave off" event last Sunday.

Before I share more on the event and how my life has changed as a bald man, I want to cover how we're distributing all the money raised.

Initially we were thinking about researching folks on GoFundMe (you may remember this from KCC #11). We spent hours researching different cases, but realized we simply weren't qualified to determine who needs the donation. There's simply too many factors to consider from age, to type of lymphoma, to use of funds, etc.

Thankfully, there's some kick ass non profits out there that are far better at allocating donations than we are.

After researching several organizations, we've decided to split the donations between two organizations that help patient's with the financial burden of cancer treatment:

  1. Memorial Sloan Kettering's Patient Free-Care Fund
  2. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Co-Pay Assistance Program.

We found the Patient Free-Care Fund through the hospital. A few weeks ago, I told Dr. Handsome about our plan for the fundraiser and he directed us to the hospital's "Giving Officer (what a cool job title). They help cover patients' hospital bills, parking costs, mortgage payments, utility bills, and other expenses.

We also wanted to give to a program that works with patients who are specifically being treated for Lymphoma. We found The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Co-Pay Assistance Program which helps patients with blood cancers (including lymphoma) pay for treatment.

We'll be making the donation this week — just waiting for a few more donation checks to come in!

Now, getting into the shave off event last weekend, July 28th.... here's the invite cover Mikayla made. The invitation starts off with: "David is about to join the ranks of iconic bald guys."

Invitation cover for David's head shaving event made by Mikayla

We kicked off the event with shaving a mohawk. Everyone had the chance to trim off a bit of the frosted tips.

Group of friends helping to shave David's hair into a mohawk

Mikayla said I looked like a beta fish.

David with mohawk hairstyle looking like a beta fish

Towards the end of the event, I had everyone take a shot of Liquid Death, as a way to symbolize supporting me through chemo. The message being, we're all in this together.

The idea came from the nickname for doxorubicin (chemo drug I'm taking) which is "red death" or "red devil" and is one of the stronger chemo drugs.

For old people reading this, Liquid Death is literally just water in a can. The brand "Liquid Death" is an ironic marketing thing. It's very GenZ and the company is worth $1.4B dollars, and it's simply just water. Only water in a can, that's it.

Here's me holding up a can of Liquid Death.

David holding up a can of Liquid Death water

Thanks to all of those in Kobro's Cancer Crew who were able to stop by!

Now, let's get into the bald life. I haven't thought too deeply about this yet, but I never realized how many decisions in my life were slightly impacted by the fact that I had hair.

Examples include:

Power nap or no power nap?

  • Pre-bald era: the cost of a power nap was high due to bed head. After the power-nap I would need to wet my hair and then comb my hair.
  • Post-bald era: I save a minimum of 5 minutes (not to mention, frustration) whenever I need a quick power nap.

Hat or no hat?

  • Hat hair is now a thing of the past.

Helmet or no helmet?

  • Biking to work is now safer. I would occasionally not wear a helmet on the 10 minute bike to work because I don't want to have gross sweaty helmet hair for the day ahead.

Misc. Perks of being bald:

  1. Looking more "Brooklyn": I look more edgy than I ever have.
  2. Looking more intimidating: no one wants to mess with a bald guy.
  3. Bald person community: Bald guys seem to notice and respect me more.

The list goes on.

My Grandpa, who is also part of the bald mafia (AKA The Bafia), told me:

"who cares about hair anyway!!…Shows virility!? I expect that some day humans won't have hair anyway. It will go away as feathers did."

You heard it here first. The future is bald.

Chemo round 10 coming up on Friday, August 9th. Just a few more rounds to go!

Love,
David