AT THE BEGINNING of 2016, long-locked Lauren Prosser from Ammanford decided to raise money for the fantastic hospitals that have been helping her granddad while he has been battling with cancer.
Lauren planned to meet a target of £500, which she would share between Llanelli’s Prince Philip Hospital and the chemotherapy unit in Glangwili Hospital, by shaving off her long, luscious locks. So far Lauren has not just met that target, but completely smashed it, having received almost £2,000 in donations so far. We at The Herald spoke with Lauren about why she wanted to raise this money and how it feels to be able to help so many people as a result.
When we asked why she had chosen to raise the money for the Prince Philip Hospital and the chemotherapy unit in Glangwilii, Lauren said: “The link I have with them both is that my grandfather is currently having treatment at both places. “He was diagnosed eight years ago with prostate cancer, that has now spread to his spine and ribs, which means it’s not aggressive and terminal. I’m very close with him and he’s my best friend. “I attend chemotherapy sessions with him and my grandmother and keep her company whilst he’s having the treatment and take her to lunch to try and occupy ourselves and not dwell on it too much. “After seeing how understaffed and hard these doctors and nurses work and all the people that seem to be becoming unwell with cancer it made me think about funding the units whichever way I could.”
We went on to ask why she chose to shave her head to raise the funds. “As I’ve always had my hair long and taken pride in my appearance, I knew people would donate a lot of money to see me shave it all off! “I absolutely love my new hair and am so proud of everyone I know coming together and donating for such a great cause. “I also discovered a few weeks after announcing that I was shaving my hair to fundraise that I had alopecia areata, but decided to go ahead with the head shave as hair doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. At the moment I have no hair at all in some patches due to the alopecia and a shaved hair in some places.” Lauren went on to say: “I hate how the government are cutting funding and taking away from the services that need it the most. We don’t need to spend money on wars when we have our own war to fight on our home front and that’s keeping our loved ones alive. “I’m amazed to have reached £2,000 and never thought it would go that far. I’m also extremely grateful to those anonymous donors that have donated sums as large as £100.”
If you would like to help Lauren exceed her goal even further, go to www.gofundme.com/wp58jgk4 and donate to the fantastic cause. Lauren before the shave: “As I’ve always had my hair long and taken pride in my appearance, I knew people would donate a lot of money to see me shave it all off!”
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