September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the Fight Like Mason Foundation is back with its Go Gold initiative.
Gold is the colour representative of childhood cancer, and officials at Fight Like Mason have been continuing to raise awareness by inspiring the communities to "Go Gold" with them since their grassroots inception.
Fight Like Mason Foundation is a registered charity founded by Chantelle Bacon and Iain Macri, parents of Mason Bacon-Macri.
Mason was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of childhood cancer, on May 4, 2015 at the age of two.
He passed away on June 27, 2016 at just four years old, and his parents made him a promise before he passed that they would continue his fight.
The Foundation will be holding a number of events over the next couple of weeks, giving many opportunities for members of the community show their support and stand behind local children and families fighting these terrible diseases.
First up will be some flag raising ceremonies, beginning in Amherstburg at the Libro Centre on Thursday at 11 a.m. followed by LaSalle for the first time at the Vollmer Complex at 2:30 p.m.
Then Windsor will hoist the flag recognizing childhood cancer awareness for the 3rd time on Friday, September 1 at 10 a.m. at Charles Clarke Square, followed by Lakeshore hoisting the flag for the first time on Saturday, September 2, at 9 a.m. at the Atlas Tube Centre.
Foundation vice-president Iain Macri says it's amazing to have support from so many communities.
"We're honoured that LaSalle and Lakeshore are coming on board this year, we've done it in Windsor and Amherstburg for the past two years," he continued. "Having the municipalities recognize childhood cancer awareness month, and having a local childhood cancer fighter help hoist our flag is really impactful to us and the entire community of our childhood cancer affected families."
Fight Like Mason's signature event, the Gold Hair Dudes Care Challenge, returns on Sunday, September 17.
Macri says people hitting certain pledge goals will determine what kind of hair they get to show their support for the cause.
"We have a bunch of pledgers this year taking the challenge and raising some funds for childhood cancer research. And when they hit a certain fundraising level, $500 gets them a temporary spray colour, $1000 raised will give them full boy-band gold blonde hair, and then $2,000 a local childhood cancer fighter will pick a surprise colour for them the day of."
Money raised goes towards supporting childhood cancer research grants.
Macri says none of this would be possible without the support from the local community.
"From them latching onto us during Mason's fight, while he was undergoing his cancer therapy, to continuing to believe in our cause. We owe what we've done to Windsor-Essex and their belief in us. humongous thank you to everyone in the community that sponsored, raised money, bought a T-shirt, and gave us the confidence to continue and persevere through this," he said.
The fundraising goal this year is similar to past years, with Macri saying they're hoping to raise between $40,000 to $50,000.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi