A family of fundraisers have had to face the bald truth – they are going grey!
Cancer patient Elaine Kershaw, 46, of Liversedge, and her three sisters and brother all had their heads shaved for charity.
They set a target of £1,000 but were amazed when their final total was counted – and reached £5,550.
The money has been split equally between Cancer Research UK and Yorkshire Cancer Research.
When Elaine was diagnosed with kidney cancer she jokingly mentioned to sisters Jaki Dixon, Carol Davison and Suzan Sykes and brother Michael Dixon that they might all want to lose their hair to raise money.
So after Elaine had an operation to remove her kidney, the siblings all had their heads shaved at the Revive hair salon in Heckmondwike.
Elaine is now on the mend and has started a phased return to work as an enforcement officer with Kirklees Council.
The siblings’ hair has now started to grow back and Elaine said: “We’ve all got spiky hair but the worst thing is we’ve all gone grey. In fact I can’t believe how white I am!
“My sisters and I can’t wait for our hair to grow another few inches so we can colour it again.”
Businesses donated auction items and raffle prizes and £1,400 was raised on the day of the head shave. The rest of the cash came from sponsorship by family, friends and workmates.
“I’ve found it all quite emotional,” said Elaine. “I can’t believe how generous people have been.
“After my treatment I wanted to give something back but I didn’t expect to raise so much.
“Even now work colleagues are coming up and saying they want to sponsor me but I’m telling them to donate directly to the charity.
“I want to thank everybody who has been so generous and we are in the process of writing to all the businesses.
“Everybody knows somebody who has had cancer, whether that’s themselves, their family or friends. Unfortunately cancer touches everybody.”
