Goodness me this feels rather scary, but here goes…

On 26th October 20 years ago, we lost our beautiful and brave Mum to cancer. It feels so hard to fathom that it was 20 whole years ago because, honestly, there are days where the pain is still as raw as it was then. I really wanted to do something to try and raise some money for charity and mark the occasion somehow but nothing felt quite right. Just before Mum began having radiotherapy, my Dad shaved her head to lessen the shock of the hair loss when it inevitably came. I remember the day so well - it was heartbreaking and confusing and while I tried so hard to understand what was happening, I just couldn’t work out why. My Mum, in her usual way, handled it with courage, dignity and grace and ended up consoling 9 year old me in floods of tears! What a hero. My real life hero. 

So I’ve decided I’m going to shave my head too. And the charity I am doing it for is The Royal Surrey Charity - specifically St Luke’s Cancer Centre who are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Though the memories of Mum being so poorly are mostly too awful to talk about - I do remember just how wonderful the staff were who looked after her in the Radiotherapy Dept. Their kindness, professionalism and support is something I will never forget. And I hope that raising some money might just help families like ours when faced with the news that no one wants to hear and when faced with the prospect of life without the person who means the most. 

I know times are incredibly tough for everyone at the moment, but if you could just spare £1 it would mean the whole world to me. 

Thankyou so very, very much ❤️

Collette xxxxx

Edited to add: Absolutely blown away by everyone’s donations so far in helping me smash my original target in just 24hrs!! So I’ve doubled it. LET’S DO THIS!!! 🙌