Sum info about 'A Close shave'

On the 9th of December 2007 a family of perfectly hairsome folks shaved their heads in order to raise awareness of and to raise funds for charities that support people with cancer. You can still donate to our causes via the donations links on the right.

So, Here's the pics!!!!

There will be a slide show here shortly along with a wee viddy of the event - in the mean time check out the pics at the following 2 links:

A Close Shave for Cancer - Part 1
A Close Shave for Cancer - Part 2


THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us in this charity event - the just giving site is pushing £1,000.00 and we have over £1,000.00 in other donations so WOW! nearly £2k. Nice one!

Its Mick!...Help! I am being held prisoner by my own family who will cut off all my hair unless you pay loads of money to two cancer charities that have been a great help to my wife Sue.
Do not inform the police unless you are absolutely certain that they will contribute financially or ridicule my plight. Any attempt to free me will be met with such withering incredulity that I may possibly die of shame. Just smile and give without counting the cost and if it's enough I may walk free still with my shaggy tresses flowing in the breeze.
But beware, I know these desperado's only too well (and you).
Giving nothing will not help my plight in any way as, worse than acquiring a glabrous cranium, I may end up with just a bad hair cut.
Listen out carefully on the evening of Sunday 9th of December, you may hear the tortured screams of a man carried to his destiny by his daughter, son's and hair's.
Anyone in the hairier may come and mock with cutting remarks that may razor laugh.
Remember we're hair today and bald tomorrow!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Well I thought it was about time I contributed to this blog, so here we go!
In April I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer affecting the Lymphatic system. In my case it was my bone marrow that was affected, which meant my blood levels were very low. Even before I was diagnosed I started doing lots of Alternative treatments including diet, juices, supplements, Healing, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, herbal remedies, coffee enemas etc.
Once diagnosed I started going to a clinic in Tunbridge Wells for IV Vit C & Whole Body Hyperthermia, amongst other things. We also got a Far Infrared Sauna to use at home & incorporated various other treatments into my regime. We installed a whole house water filter & also put our drinking water through a 'Wellness' jug filter.
Unfortunately my blood levels continued to drop & I eventually had to start Chemotherapy in August. I negotiated a lower dose regime than they wanted to do (3 drugs instead of 5!) & found I had virtually no side effects. They had said they would have to go in heavy to get on top of it & that in any case I would probably need blood transfusions every week. Well, the chemo started working immediately, rather dramatically & I have only needed one blood transfusion during the whole course. My blood levels are up to normal & my latest bone marrow biopsy showed very significant clearance of the lymphoma cells. The doctors are rather dumbfounded! It is I am sure because of all the other things I’m doing.
I have not lost my hair as was predicted, but decided I'd go ahead & have it shaved off anyway. My advantage is that I have been given a very nice wig by the hospital in anticipation of my hair loss. I've also got several hats including one to wear at night!
Sue

I'm getting worried now, i don't know what my head even looks like bald, luckily there's lots of groovy hats out this season.
The well established habitat that is my cranium reached evolutionary equilibrium some 8 years ago, i only cut it when i can't get a brush through.
Regular shampooing for the first time in perhaps 11 years has had some interesting results. My brush and the bath seem to lack the soft veneer which would previously grace their surface. Now all is sqeaky clean and my hair ties keep sliping out without the fuzzy support.
Hopefully a few more weeks and it might even make a nice wig for the kids man.

A Close Shave For Cancer

In May this year my mum was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This is a form of cancer that affects the lymphatic system. There are more than 30 different sorts of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and everyone’s experience is different. My mother has always had an interest in medicine and in particular, various forms of alternative medicine. She worked as a district nurse for many years before training as a masseuse and setting up her own business at home. She also worked for Marie Curie Cancer Care caring for cancer patients in their own homes. More recently she has worked for North Devon Hospice as an aromatherapist. With this back ground she is educated enough to know that there are many ways of dealing with illness and wanted to be, in some ways, in control of her own recovery. She did a huge amount of research and has been having various different treatments. Alongside these she is also undergoing a course of chemotherapy.

As you can imagine this was a huge shock to our whole family and the term ‘chemo’ conjured up allsorts of terrifying images although we all knew that it should, in the long term, be beneficial.

Ashamedly, my first thought was ‘oh my god she’s going to lose her hair’.

This got me thinking. Why should I be worrying about hair? I’d rather have a hairless mummy than no mummy at all! So I thought well if she’s going to lose her hair then I’m losing mine too. Show her that we’re in this together. Stand united!

I was on a roll. I got on the phone to my eldest brother, Peter, feeling a bit nervous as he’s had long ginger hair since his teens! But no sooner had I mentioned it, he said he had been thinking along the very same lines and was getting a bit sick of his old mane anyway. Our other brother, Tim, was up for it too, so we told mum.

This has now turned into a major charity event and we want to raise as much money as possible. The money we raise we will be donating to Cancer Active and Yes to Life.

Cancer Active is a charity which provides evidence-based information on orthodox and alternative/integrative cancer therapies and Yes to Life is a charity which as well as providing information, provides financial support for those wishing to incorporate approaches into their cancer treatment, which the NHS wouldn't be able to fund. Please take the time to look on their websites and see for yourself the good work they do www.canceractive.com and www.yestolife.org.uk

We have set a date for the grand event, Sunday 9^th December and will hold the event in our pub, The Old Smithy so all our staff and customers can have a good old laugh! And hopefully donate lots of money!

Incidently, mum has coped with the chemotherapy with minimal side effects and hasn't actually lost her hair which could be put down to the other treaments she has been doing, but has decided to lop it off anyway! And dad hasn't got a huge ammount to lose, so his is going too!

If there is any way in which you think you can help us raise money, whether reporting the event or donating, we would really like to know.

We sincerely want to make this worth while as we don’t fancy having cold heads for nothing! We would love to be able to give a great chunk of cash to these very worthwhile charities as well as raising awareness for the work they do.

To make a donation and for more information, please go to www.acloseshaveforcancer.com

A Close Shave

It all starts here...