A Surprising Streak for a Good Cause

Streaking for a Good Cause

 

Raising funds and awareness for causes comes in many forms: galas, Kickstarter campaigns, races and so on. Sometimes, though, raising eyebrows is also an effective method — just ask Paddy O’Brien. The Marin native and 19-year-old student at New Zealand’s Knox College cycled naked through an undergraduate anatomy lecture recently to raise awareness of testicular cancer. It worked. The story of the stunt was picked up by several news outlets, effectively getting the word out. But this is hardly O’Brien’stesticular cancer first brush with fame. Diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, as a child, O’Brien became the face of fundraising efforts to build the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital. Of his recent dash through the spotlight, he says, “I wanted to show that fundraising doesn’t have to be bake sales and fundraisers. You can generate awareness by doing something fun like this.” And that’s the naked truth.

This article originally appeared in Marin Magazine’s print edition with the headline: “Winning Streak”.


Kasia Pawlowska

Kasia Pawlowska loves words. A native of Poland, Kasia moved to the States when she was seven. The San Francisco State University creative writing graduate went on to write for publications like the San Francisco Bay Guardian and KQED Arts among others prior to joining the Marin Magazine staff. Topics Kasia has covered include travel, trends, mushroom hunting, an award-winning series on social media addiction and loads of other random things. When she’s not busy blogging or researching and writing articles, she’s either at home writing postcards and reading or going to shows. Recently, Kasia has been trying to branch out and diversify, ie: use different emojis. Her quest for the perfect chip is never-ending.