KSHB 41 News anchor Taylor Hemness reports on stories across Kansas, including a focus on consumer issues. You can contact Taylor by email.
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This year, KSHB 41 News anchor Lindsay Shively and I are honored to serve as emcees for the annual Shave to Save event Friday benefiting American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Kansas City.
The lodge, backed by the American Cancer Society, provides housing for patients and caregivers who are traveling to Kansas City for cancer treatment.
Over the years, this event has raised millions of dollars, featuring people having their heads shaved on stage to support patients.
I got to visit the location recently, and thought about how the phrase “home away from home” gets thrown around a lot, but when you have to be away from home for terrifying reasons, those words hit different.
"A lot of my family members work, so I was trying to figure out who can do it when, and how we're gonna do it,” Stacy Hodes told me. “But then they told me about this, so it was like, ‘Ok, that's a good option.’"
Hodes is from Columbia, Missouri, and she has been at Hope Lodge for almost three months.
She is battling a rare form of leukemia and told me how much she misses her family.
"I like to look forward to, you know, what I'm going to do when I get home, and you know, things with my grandkids,” Hodes said. “I try to think of fun things I can do with them, because I haven't seen them since January."
The grandkids can't visit her at Hope Lodge, but her mom, her niece and her daughters have all spent nights inside the lodge with her as caregivers.
She said the other guests lift her up too.
"You almost become friends and family,” Hodes said. “Get close because you see them everyday. You can talk about, like, ‘I had that too, and this is how I got through it.’"
Former KSHB 41 faces like Gary Lezak and Kevin Holmes have helped raise money for the lodge during Shave to Save events over the years. Now, Shively and I will carry on that tradition.
On my visit to Hope Lodge, I chatted with Randee Reeves as well. Reeves is the senior executive director of the American Cancer Society of Missouri and Kansas.
"When you get a cancer diagnosis, everything becomes a new normal,” Reeves said. “Even the space away becomes a new normal."
Reeves tells me that for long stays, quick overnights or multiple three or four day visits, the mission of Hope Lodge doesn't change.
"The fact that we can open up a space and say, ‘We have room for you,’" Reeves said.
Room. A home. Normal.
Whatever word you want to use, they all describe what Hodes said she feels.
"It’s also nice to have that someone there, just to talk to so you're not alone all the time," Hodes said.
While the 2026 Shave to Save Event is sold out, you can learn more about the event and donate here.
The event's silent auction page is live as well — if you would like to bid on an item before Friday night's event, click here.
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