Company boss who raised record amount hopes to do even better
Company CEO Susan Patschak helped raise $300,000 for St Baldrick’s in 2009 and holds the record for the highest amount raised in the charity’s history.Now Mrs Patschak and her fundraising partner Shannon Totten are hoping to match or surpass that sum.She recognises that shaving her head the second time round won’t have the same drama attached to it, but said: “It would be great to break our previous record.”The Canopius Bermuda head said she decided to take part in the March 18 event at BAA in memory of a favourite cousin who died this past year from ovarian cancer. She said her husband battled with the disease twice.The 50-year-old also thought it would be a positive way to begin her next half century.Mrs Patschak was not at all worried about losing her hair.“Most people in business know that I am participating in St Baldrick’s.“It is so widely known in Bermuda that everyone on Island is aware of the event.”In order to meet this goal she has sent out e-mails to her contacts, printed small business cards with the direct link to her web page and put a notice in her church’s weekly bulletin about the shaving.She told The Royal Gazette the first time around she learnt she had a “pretty good shaped head” and that she liked her hair short.This time she is focused on helping as many people as possible and said the charity had been successful in its efforts with cancer research.“When St Baldrick’s began, only 25 percent of all children’s cancer was curable. Today, it is over 80 percent.“So much of the money that is raised goes directly to research and we can see first hand how effective this organisation has been.”