THREE generations will stand united in a fight against lung cancer by shaving all their hair off after being affected by the disease.
Sue Reeves was diagnosed with lung cancer last July. She has had half a lung removed and is now having chemotherapy, but she is determined to not let her illness get her down.
Mrs Reeves wanted to raise money for charity and chose the charity Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, but she received some additional support when two other generations of her family decided to get involved.
She said: “I was going to have my head shaved, as I was likely to lose my hair from chemotherapy. My daughter said she would do it with me and my grandson volunteered to have his head shaved. He’s just turned 18 and I didn’t have to ask him, he just said yes that’s fine.”
Mrs Reeves, her daughter Ragin Holmes and grandson Michael Holmes will be having their heads shaved together by Mrs Reeves' hairdresser on February 8, at the Marlborough Club in Didcot.
The family hope to raise £1,000 and they are nearly halfway there, having so far raised £400 on their JustGiving page.
The trio have been given balloons, banners, pin badges, ribbons and pens from Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation to help their fundraising.
Mrs Reeves said she was grateful for her family's support, adding: “It’s absolutely amazing. My husband takes me into treatments and my daughter is a nurse at the Great Western Hospital and she is supporting me big time. She is supporting both me and my mum. I did try and persuade my mum to get her head shaved to make it four generations, but she said that she wanted to keep her hair at her age.”
Mrs Reeves wants to offer other people with lung cancer her support as well as raise money for charity. To help get her positive message out to others she has created a Facebook page - Sue's Journey - to document her experience of lung cancer, operations and chemotherapy.
She said: “I didn’t feel there was much out there between appointments, nobody knows what you’re actually going through.”
She added: “The Facebook page is just about how I’m feeling, and it is nice for people who are going through the same and it’s good therapy for me.”
Mrs Reeves has a past of caring for others and has previously been a manager at a care home, a psychiatric nurse, and carer for her mother.
She said: “A friend said to me, even in your darkest time you’re still helping people.”
Her response was: “I’m keeping positive because I’m not going to let this disease beat me.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here