A benefit for Langerhan's Cell Histiocytis is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. March 14 at E.C. Pace Park, and it will honor 3-year-old Grant Melvin of Cataula, Ga. A pre-K student at Mulberry Creek Elementary School, Grant was diagnosed with the rare disease last summer.

He has lost his hair, and the public is invited to get their heads shaved at the event next week.

The park's address is 8401 Ga. 315 in Harris County.

A Web site, www.stbaldricks.org, allows people to sign up for the event and/or make contributions.

The disease essentially causes one's blood to attack the bones. There are just 250,000 diagnosed cases in the U.S. Grant receives weekly treatments of chemotherapy and steroids at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Atlanta. Histiocytosis is an “orphan disease” meaning it is so rare that it gets no funding for research.

Volunteers and donors at St. Baldrick’s events have fun supporting this serious cause. Thousands of volunteers shave their heads in solidarity with children fighting cancer, requesting donations of support from family and friends. In the four years since the St. Baldrick’s Foundation became and independent charity, it has funded over $31 million in life saving childhood cancer research.

For more information about the local benefit, call 706-573-6772.