Rocklin mom Shannon Barry is thinking about the 46 sets of parents who will fall asleep tonight in shock, just like she did four years ago.

“I remember the night I cried on my pillow,” Barry said. “Forty-six children are diagnosed with cancer every week day.”

Barry’s son Keeghan was only 10 years old when he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and lost his battle in 2008 at age 12.

Not the kind of kid who was defined by cancer, although in kindergarten, years before his illness struck, he promised his mom he would be the one to find a cure. A boy who filled his life with family, all things Irish, and, in the last years, an upbeat desire to beat his disease “cell by cell.”

In fact Barry, who had every right to mourn in silence, immediately joined a cancer awareness group and signed up for the 46 Mommas Shave for the Brave team a year after Keeghan’s life ended.

A team, sponsored by the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which is taking 46 moms of children who have fought or are fighting cancer from all over the United States on a journey to raise funds to find a cure.

A fight that will showcase Barry shaving her head and walking live on stage during the Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon airing on all major television networks Friday, Sept. 10.

“I want people to watch the Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon and see all of us with our bald heads on one stage,” Barry said. “I’m hoping that image — not just of 46 bald women, but of 46 moms, all of whom have had a child with cancer, and who will go to any length for their children — will create a visual that people won’t be able to get out of their minds. And hopefully that will be enough to get them to make a donation. No amount of money is too small really. If everyone in Rocklin donated just $5, that would be a serious amount of money!”

On Barry’s donation site at www.46mommas.com/shannon, photos of her freckle-faced, “wise little man” Keeghan decorate the photo gallery.

September is childhood cancer awareness month, but Barry is the type of mom who fuels the fight all year long.

“The problem is that statistics get lost on most people,” Barry said. “But to say that the equivalent of two classrooms full of children are diagnosed with cancer every week day — 230 kids per week — and that one of every five of those will die has more impact. One of the goals of this team of 46 moms is to create such a visual. We want to show people exactly what 46 looks like.”

Barry and her husband Mike just spent mid-August sending their daughter Maxx, 16, off to Whitney High School, tortured with the realization that this year would have been Keeghan’s freshman year.

Maxx is already planning to follow her mother’s fight to raise awareness.

“I think it’s very inspirational and I plan to do it when I get older,” she said. “Maybe after college so I’ll have more years to raise more money.”

According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, many successful adult cancer drugs are discovered through pediatric cancer trials because more than 60 percent of childhood cancer patients complete clinical trials compared to less than five percent of adults.

“One thing you can say for kids with cancer is that they are all warriors,” Barry said. “As parents, we don’t ever want to outlive our children, so yes, we did exhaust all avenues in terms of Keeghan’s treatment. I think the hardest thing for me in dealing with his death is knowing that he really didn’t want to die.” 

So Barry will stand on stage as one of 46 moms who carry the same burden, the same hope, the same calling to find a cure — and the same prayer that those reading this article will take two minutes to click or call with a donation.

“Believe me, I know,” Barry said. “I never wanted to even think about kids getting cancer because the thought was so terrifying. But that didn’t stop it from getting to Keeghan, and it won’t stop it from getting to 46 more children today, tomorrow, or the next day. That is the saddest fact of all.”

Stand Up 2 Cancer Telethon

When: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10

Where: All major television networks

How to donate: www.46mom

mas.com/shan

non or call (888) 899-2253