Patricia Shaw
Trisha's Charity Head Shave
Fundraising for Pawprints Dog Rescue
Story
My name is Trisha and I am very proud to be one of the Trustees of Pawprints Dog Rescue, in Rugby. Pawprints is run by volunteers to save abandoned, sick and injured dogs that are picked up by local dog wardens and are at risk of being put to sleep because they remain unclaimed after 7 days.
This week 10 dogs have been brought into kennels. One of them is Julius who was dumped on a doorstep in a washing powder box. Julius is about 8 weeks old and has suffered dreadful neglect and pain. He has weeping open sores on his skin and has lost the majority of the hair across his body.
I know that most people shave their heads for charity because they want to, as a gesture of solidarity with someone close to them. That makes my fundraiser a bit different as Julius is obviously a dog, not a person.....but Julius and I have something in common that bonds us.
I am currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer. As part of my treatment I have had surgery to remove a tumour and when the pathology report came back it suggested that the cancer may have entered my blood stream. With this in mind I opted to have chemotherapy and 12 days ago I had my first dose.
Like Julius has, I'm going to lose my hair.
I want to raise funds for Pawprints and help cover the cost of Julius's treatment and care, with any additional funds raised helping Pawprints to continue caring for the dogs that they save. It's hard not to be passionate when so many of the dogs that come in require medical treatment because they have been neglected, denied treatment for cancer and other diseases, hurt and injured and, as well as these medical expenses, Pawprints also incurs additional veterinary costs as they ensure that every dog that they rehome is neutered, vaccinated, given flea and worm treatment and microchipped.
Covering just a small proportion of these costs will save this incredible group of volunteers many hours of fundraising so any help that you can give is invaluable.
It has been surprisingly easy to remain positive about my illness up to now. I know that I have years of volunteering ahead of me because Pawprints is always full of dogs, often over full!! For now though my input is limited because the chemotherapy has destroyed a lot of my white blood cells and left me with no immunity to infection. Consequently I'm not able to directly interact with the dogs that Pawprints cares for, like Julius, and that is something that I find incredibly frustrating. My first instinct, when the dog warden brought him in, was to reach out to him and I had to stop myself. I've never had to do that before
So what can I do to help instead?
Any day now my hair will start to fall out. I've already had it cut to shoulder length and the final controlled stage will be to have it shaved when it starts to fall out. It's going to be emotional....I won't lie.....but can you help me turn this into a really positive experience and help me save lives while I'm fighting cancer? Will you sponsor me please?
Huge thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and for any support that you can give. If you're considering opening your heart and your home to a dog, now or in the future, then please consider adopting from Pawprints.
You can find information on the dogs that are available for adoption at www.pawprintsdogrescue.org
Thank you very much xx
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