Shaving and Donating my Hair for Cancer Research

In my 23 years of life, I've been a bystander to watching some influential people in my life suffer from cancer more than I'd like to be acknowledging.

My beautiful, kind and selfless Nan passed away two years ago of lung cancer which had metastasised before diagnosis, we had 4 short months to make the most of while my amazing mum took care of her full time in her deteriorating condition until she passed away in her home.

My Grand-Uncle Paul was one of the liveliest people I've ever met, travelling the world by boat in the New Zealand Navy and sent to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as part of nuclear weapon testing in the late 50s. The damage done to himself and his mates on those ships included many a Leukaemia diagnosis in the coming years, my Uncle watched friends get sick and die of an awful disease that would not have affected them had they not been on those ships. He lived 14 months past his diagnosis in June of 2019.

I've wanted to find a way to try and contribute to funding to find a cure or more beneficial treatments for a while and I thought since my hair is ever-growing and in the scheme of things something I would definitely rather live without than the people I love, I'm going to shave it off! Any donation would be immensely appreciated and I will split the proceeds 50/50 between the Lung Foundation NZ and the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer Foundation NZ. I'm also going to be donating my hair to Freedom Wigs New Zealand.