We are absolutely delighted to welcome Amanda Shewbridge to the Cancer Hair Care team in the role of Nurse Advisor.
Combining the professional and the personal in a unique way, Amanda brings more than 35 years’ of nursing experience as well as her own cancer-related hair loss journey.
When Amanda was diagnosed with early ovarian cancer in November 2018, she went from being a cancer nurse to a cancer patient almost overnight, experiencing a big operation and then chemotherapy in quick succession.
Whilst she wasn’t fazed by chemo, having supported so many women in her nursing career and fully understanding how to manage the side effects, losing her hair was a different matter.
Just over a week after her first chemo, Amanda began to shed handfuls of her hair. Having met Amanda previously, she rang me to chat through what was happening. I remember in particular that she told me how unexpectedly painful her scalp was as her hair had started to come out. I suggested that Amanda massage her scalp with soothing Tea Tree oil and this made a huge difference to her comfort levels.
A short time later, Amanda came to our Caring Hair Studio where I shaved her hair off for her. She told me later that shaving her head was a very emotional, but positive experience for her, as she felt that she took back some control over her situation.
We kept in touch throughout the rest of her hair loss journey and now, nearly 18 months later, Amanda is now a vital part of our charity’s team.
With her incredible support, I now hope that we can get Cancer Hair Care’s wealth of hair loss information and expertise to support every cancer nurse who works with patients who have lost their hair.
Amanda is an inspiration to us all.
To find out more about Amanda and her hair loss journey, please see:
Senior NHS Cancer Nurse Shares Her Emotional Hair Loss Journey (Zoom recording)
NHS Senior Nurse Joins Cancer Hair Care (Zoom recording)