St John AYAN Deputy Leader Tom braves the shave

I recently participated in the World’s Greatest Shave and after 28 months of growing my hair in preparation, it finally went last week! I had originally planned on participating last year, however, decided to grow my hair for another 12 months so that it was long enough to donate for use in creating a wig for someone who has lost their hair to chemotherapy. I made this decision, as I had witnessed first-hand the impact of blood cancer to someone I know and the support that the Leukaemia Foundation provided them in travel assistance.

The Leukaemia Foundation exists both to research a cure for blood cancer and support those diagnosed with it. Together with their partners, they are working towards a target of 0 deaths caused by blood cancer by 2035. Blood cancers can be particular difficult to be diagnosed with, as many are incurable or eventually will reoccur in people after an unknown period of time after going into remission. To support these people, the foundation provides numerous services including accommodation/transport support alongside counselling and information to individuals diagnosed with blood cancer. 

I would encourage anyone who is interested to give it a go next year―after all, hair doesn’t take too long to grow back!

Tom