Mother of two from Clayton-le-Woods braves the shave to thank cancer charity

Rachel Eaton, 48, received a shock diagnosis in May this year and had to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments at Rosemere Cancer Centre. Luckily, she didn’t lose her hair and so kept what she was going through quite private. A day after she finished her treatment though she asked her lifelong family mobile hairdresser Dawn Almond to shave off her blonde locks she had kept all her life without change, to give back for the care she had received and managed to raise £2,695. Rachel’s parents and husband Warren were there to give her moral support along with children Jessica (14) and 11-year-old Tom who both attend St Michael's Church of England High School in Chorley.

Speaking of the brave decision, she said: "Dawn is my family’s hairdresser and has been my hairdresser all my life. I messaged her beforehand and said I wanted to do it as I had only just finished treatment. I never really had a great head of hair and have had pretty much the same hairstyle all my life too – a blonde bob. I didn’t lose my hair during treatment, which helped me keep my cancer private so only family and close friends knew what I was going through. I received such great care at Rosemere that I wanted to give back and decided that being sponsored to shave my head would be a good way to do it as such a radical change also symbolises a fresh start for me.”

Rachel set up an online giving page and raised well over the £500 she had hoped to achieve.

"I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank them for all the amazing work they do and continue to do. You don't realise exactly just how busy and traumatic it is until you go through it. At the minute I am very anxious as I am awaiting my scan results, but I would love to do other things to raise funds for them next year."

What does she make of her new style? "It is very time saving. I have wigs but I don't tend to use them as much."