A mother-of-three has shaved her head to raise money for equipment at the hospital which helped her son.

Three-year-old Phoenyx Sharp, from Shellingford, near Faringdon, was born with a disease called sagittal synostosis and macrocephal, which gives the sufferer a large or unusual shaped head.

Mum Katrina said the problem is usually picked up at the 20-week scan – and Phoenyx was one of the few babies to be diagnosed with the problem late in the pregnancy. She said: “He had a scan at 10 weeks when they were suspecting cerebral palsy and many other things, but that all came back clear.

“Although at birth his head was the normal size within weeks it had taken over and he couldn’t support it at all.

“He didn’t support his head at all until he was nine and a half months old.

“Before he was diagnosed he was screaming constantly, head banging and he never slept as he would feel the pain more at night.

“In the daytime he would be constantly on the go and he was very hyperactive.

“At a couple of points we actually had to video him as we were so concerned that someone would ring social services, and he now has permanent dips in his forehead from the stair gates.“ Ms Sharp decided to take on the charity challenge to shave off her long blonde hair to raise money for the cranial unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where Phoenyx was treated after his condition was diagnosed.

She said: “Things have improved now, but we wanted to say thank you for the excellent care he received at the hospital.

“Eventually, we want to raise £20,000 to buy equipment for the hospital.”

The shave was carried out last month at a pub in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, where Ms Sharp is originally from.

She said: “We called the event ‘to shave or not to shave’. People paid £1 per vote and whatever vote won, I did.

“Seventy-five per cent of people said I should take the chop, so I did.

“The shave raised over £350, but money is still coming in.”

To make a donation, email Ms Sharp at katrina.sharp@ btinternet.com