Last year my wife and I were expecting our first child.

A short time before we were due to give birth, I was notified that an old school friend, Robert Leahy - who gave a reading at our wedding, had lost his battle with depression - something I'm familiar with but as I was out of touch with my friend I had no idea he had been suffering.

The week of his funeral my wife was due to be induced, but a few days before I rushed my wife to hospital as there was reduced fetal movement. It turned out we had tragically lost our son, Ethan William.

We were (and still are) in pieces, obviously, and there was no way we'd be attending Rob's funeral - I didn't want people's grief for Rob to be stolen by our tragedy and didn't really think we'd be able to hold it together.

Its been nearly a year and I would like to do something to raise money, but i'm at a loss as to which charity to help, so i'm using this crowdfunding page to raise money for two charities that have helped us and others in these circumstances.

4Louis is a charity that helps families deal with the loss of a child, providing memory boxes to allow bereaved parents the ability to capture some memories with their child.

MIND is a mental health support charity providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

So, what am I going to do to raise money?

I've always been a fan of having long hair. I grew it from the age of about 14, till I had it all cut off shortly after my 18th birthday - incidentally Rob also grew his hair long at this time - and I decided to grow it long again after we fell pregnant. Its now slightly longer than shoulder length and I flit between loving and hating it. However, i'm immensely concerned that I have a large head so feel I look odd with short hair.

So in order to raise money i'm going to Shave. My. Head.