Hi everyone!
My name is Jessica Ekstrom and I'm a junior at North Carolina State University.
Here's a little about me and Headbands of Hope...
Right before
my 20th birthday in the summer of 2011, I did an internship at the Make a Wish
Foundation of Central and Western North Carolina.
Everyday, I
got to wake up and grant the wishes of children with life-threatening
illnesses. I took day trips to visit the wish kids at their houses and bring
them their favorite toys. We received hundreds of letters from wish children
that said we changed their lives; little did they know, they were changing
mine.
One day, I was
pulling my hair back in a ponytail and thought about the hundreds of girls I
encountered that lose their hair to cancer. I saw how much losing their hair
had an impact on their self-esteem and confidence level.
I thought
about the thousands of girls around the world losing their hair to chemotherapy.
Being a young girl presents many struggles with self-esteem already and losing
their hair as a result of a life-threatening illness is traumatic. Not
only do they have to face the risk of losing their lives, they feel that they
lose a part of their feminine identity.
Like
us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, send me an email from the contact page, and stay connected!
Remember,
we're in this together.
Let's spread hope in all girls and conquer kids' cancer... one headband at a time!