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Students shaved for support
LEAVITTSBURG
Students raised more than $26,000 at the Shave for the Brave fundraiser and pancake breakfast to help with medical expenses for LaBrae student Tanner Noble.
Vikings HOPE, Helping Others Pursue Excellence, a student outreach group, on Sunday hosted Shave for the Brave, a fundraiser for Tanner Noble. Students from several different schools came together, resulting in more than $26,000 to help Tanner and his family with medical expenses.
Tanner has stage four medullary thyroid cancer, a carcinoma attacking parafollicar cells, or C cells, to produce certain hormones in the body. He is undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Cleveland Clinic – a facility out of the family’s insurance network – leaving the family responsible for the medical costs.
Ruth Noble, Tanner’s grandmother, said the family was overjoyed with the huge turnout of the event.
“It was just unimaginable – the crowd and what the people are doing for us,” Noble said.
Canfield schools Superintendent Alex Geordan, a LaBrae graduate, resident, parent and close family friend of the Nobles, agreed, estimating just under 1,000 people attended.
Noble said Tanner was surprised to see so many people from the community gathering for his sake.
“He [Tanner] just kept saying, ‘I cant believe these people all came out for me,’” Noble said.
Geordan said both students and adults showed no hesitation in shaving their heads, resulting in almost 70 people who donated their hair – including Tanner and himself.
“He [Tanner] came up to me and said, ‘I want to participate and get involved,’ so we sat down in the chair and did it together,” Geordan said. “Of the 10 beauticians volunteering their time, one cut his and another cut mine. It’s very cold right now, but that’s OK, it was for a good cause.”
In addition to hair-donation opportunities, those who attended could partake in a bake sale, a 50/50 raffle, a pancake breakfast, games and more to help the cause.
“It was a cold day, but there were so many volunteers who participated, it warmed our hearts,” Geordan said. “It could be zero degrees outside and everyone inside was so full of warm excitement and appreciation for one another.”
Noble said since the start of the fundraising efforts, Tanner has been in good spirits, going to school and doing well despite a slight setback with his chemotherapy pill.