Braving the Shave

 

A rather lovely lady who runs the Peer Support Group at The Hub braved the shave earlier in the year. I read some of the information at the time about the fundraising work of MacMillan and decided I'd do the shave to coincide with the Macmillan coffee morning we have each year. I signed up in July to give me a couple of months of fund raising beforehand. Debra joined me just after my diagnosis at the beginning of August. At the start of September I set off on the #111happyhats posts. I was about to have surgery and knew this would be followed by chemotherapy and hair loss. By the time the shave came round I'd had one lot of surgery, been in Blackburn Royal with the Lymph infection and would be having my second bit of surgery the following week.  

 

Initially I think I thought the shave would be a good cover up for the chemo as folks would be used to me having no hair. I remember being quite shocked when my breast care nurse told me I'd probably lose my eye brows and eye lashes. Paul did suggest we take them off too at the shave but I felt that was a step too far!

 

Hub folks were awesome in the run up to the shave. Instead of one coffee morning we had 'Cuppa and Cake Days' with cakes, buns and biscuits appearing daily. And within this, so many people shared how MacMillan had helped them or family members.

 

27th September, the day of  'Brave The Shave' finally arrived and The Hub was buzzing! We had our usual lunchtime Relaxation and Meditation group and Drumming and Chanting Circle then at 4pm Paul revved his clippers up and set to at shaving my head. Unfortunately the machine broke (Liz's head 1 Clippers 0).

A rather resourceful Hubbit contacted a local hairdressers who agreed to loan us some clippers. These arrived within minutes and my shave continued. I'm still not 100% sure how the 666 appeared on the back of my head though Mr Sparks looks decidedly shifty on the video!

Debra had arranged to donate her lovely locks to the Little Princess Trust which provides wigs for children who experience hair loss due to cancer treatment. Two of our lovely Massage therapists Kelly (the Bolton Bruiser) and Kate (Chisel Fingers) were on hand to sort out preparations and carefully applied elastic bands as per the instructions. Before long, Vidal Sparks was methodically cutting Debra's hair too. And I have to say, he made a brilliant job of both our shaves. Debra's hair was bagged up ready for posting off to the Little Princess Trust. Sadly we were unable to find any alopecia-stricken hamsters who may appreciate my hair. 

This afternoon really was The Hub at its best. Folks of all ages coming together to support Debra and me and to do their very best for an excellent cause. True Community.

 

 

 



I checked my 'phone after we'd completed the shave and there was a missed call from Burnley hospital. Returning the call, I spoke to my breast care nurse who told me my surgery had been moved to the morning list on 3rd October. This reassured me as my previous experience was so positive. Things were feeling positive, I had a lovely weekend ahead of me on our Reiki 2 Retreat- all was well in my world. 

 

Liz x