<p>Dear everyone,</p> <p>I'm going to be shaving my head for the Teenage Cancer Trust...&nbsp; Here's why:</p> <p>My boss Andrew's 15 year old daughter has recently been diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, which is a cancer of the lymphatic system. <a href="http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Childrenscancers/Typesofchildrenscancers/Hodgkinlymphoma.aspx">http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Childrenscancers/Typesofchildrenscancers/Hodgkinlymphoma.aspx</a></p> <p>2 weeks ago Francesca started her treatment which is based around 6 cycles of Chemotherapy and will take a minimum of 6 months. In 6 weeks&rsquo; time she will undergo further assessments to see if she needs Radiotherapy at the end of&nbsp;her current treatment. The major physical side effect to the Chemotherapy is Alopecia, which you may know as hair loss to the scalp. Her hair has started to fall out and it is likely that within the next week, she will have lost all of her hair.</p> <p>Francesca's auntie Amanda volunteered to shave her head and has suggested to Andrew, Francesca's Dad that he should join her in a bid to make things a little more bearable for&nbsp;her and raise some money in the process. Subsequently, other family members volunteered to join in to try and raise more money, and this has ballooned into the Shave-A-Thon...</p> <p>This will be a group &lsquo;head shaving&rsquo; garden party at their home in Harrow on Saturday, 21st May.&nbsp; So far, over&nbsp;30 people are participating, including three women! &nbsp;I'd like to ask you to sponsor the cause with all proceeds going to the Teenage Cancer Trust: <a href="http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/">http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/</a> I have set up this JustGiving page, where you can make a donation, which would be greatly appreciated. All of the money that we will raise will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT): <a href="http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/">http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/what-we-do/specialist-services/</a></p> <p>Over the last 6 weeks Francesca has been attending the University College Hospital London and the TCT have provided the young people there with tremendous support. We are all trying to raise as much money as possible to help those young people coming behind us with as much of this same great support as possible. The Teenage Cancer Trust have so far made&nbsp;Francesca feel as normal as possible during this very difficult time.</p> <p>I am aiming very high with my own target fund set at &pound;1000.00. I therefore hope you will find this a worthwhile&nbsp;charity and donate generously.&nbsp; Obviously I no longer have quite the same head of hair now that I did in the photos, but I'm quite attached to what I still have, so I'm willingly&nbsp;undertaking this&nbsp;minor sacrifice!</p> <p>I would like to thank you for your time in reading this page as well as to thank you in advance should you decide to donate to TCT.</p> <p>Best wishes,</p> <p>Tom</p>