If you want to know the value of early detection and treatment of cancer, just ask Gord Plumridge, a math teacher at Shelburne's Centre Dufferin District High School (CDDHS).

Mr. Plumridge's story has its beginning in January 2000, when he was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder. It might have culminated in his induction into the "Order of Shelburne" because of what has happened in the ensuing six years.

In his case, Mr. Plumridge says, his cancer was still "encapsulated," so a surgical procedure was successful, and he lost two weeks of employment at most as a result of his hospitalization.

He is thankful that he was able to gain access to a cancer clinic, to have the procedure completed expeditiously, and to avoid what often are the agonies of chemotherapy.

Aware of the fact that the availability of immediate care had resulted from the fundraising efforts of

someone, he says, organization of a hair-cutting event was "my way of repaying the hospital quickly. I wanted to repay."

This led to the first hair-shedding event for cancer at CDDHS. That event raised about $2,500$3,000, and he says it was intended to be a one-time affair.

But Mr. Plumridge wasn't alone in his desire to support the battle against cancer.

By popular demand, the event has been repeated every year since.

From its humble $3,000 beginning, it has grown to what might be well in excess of $18,000 for the current event once all the pledges are in. Right now, he said, it's just a bit short of $18,000 in actual cash. And the target for this year was just $15,000, so it's probably over the top by as much as it garnered in its first year.

Mr. Plumridge says, though, the annual event is more than just a fundraiser. "For some students, it's closure." He said one of the students at last Thursday's assembly had lost his own mother to cancer "two years to the day before [last Thursday's event]."

Almost everyone knows someone who has suffered from or succumbed terminally from cancer.

The funds-for-cancer event might also be an opportunity to raise awareness, not only of the

incidence and variety of the disease, but of the critical need for early detection.