Diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2020, Abbie decided to do something amazing for Cancer Hair Care. Along with her childhood friend Kelly and nephew Jodi, the trio shaved their heads in a live YouTube ‘Brave the Shave’ video, and they raised more than £6,000.
Abbie’s incredible donation will enable us to help hundreds of beneficiaries facing hair loss on their cancer journey and we couldn’t be more thankful.
Cancer Hair Care’s founder Jasmin said: “We are so grateful to Abbie and her supporters for helping give back so that the support Abbie received can be shared with many more.”
Here, in her own words, is her cancer and hair loss experience.
“Mentally, I had to get to the point where I was ready to shave my head. After I was diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2020, I then had two chemo treatments using scalp cooling, but my hair was coming out in such massive clumps that I just couldn’t cope with it any more.”
“I thought Cancer Hair Care was a brilliant charity. When I was first diagnosed, the oncology surgeon gave me a brochure for chemotherapy and hair loss. That’s where I found out about Cancer Hair Care and decided to fundraise for them.”
“Losing my hair was my worst fear – more than losing my life. I know that sounds a bit strange, but I absolutely have no choice apart from beating this disease so, for me, hair loss was worse.”
“I acknowledge and accept that I’ve got cancer. That empowers me to make the choice to change and create new habits. No matter what you’re going through, the principle remains the same. If I was going to try and resist a bar of chocolate, I wouldn’t, but when the chips are down and something threatened my life, it absolutely turned my thinking around.”
“I look in the mirror every single morning with my bald head and say ‘I defy the odds and feel amazing’. Cancer means your emotional and mental health can really suffer but, really, it’s how you perceive life. It is a life and death situation, but I choose survival. I choose to think and feel the thoughts that will help me to stay alive.”
“My sister Vanessa is an emotional mentor and she’s been my rock. What I’ve put into practice is a combination of mindfulness, good mind chatter and positive daily affirmations, so I tell myself that my body is healed and that I’m rocking it. I meditate every morning at 6am and I have the two congruent thoughts. so I put out the mental health and get back the emotional health, like a boomerang.”
“I thank cancer for choosing me so I have a different perspective on life. I have an unwavering belief that I will get through this. It’s not just my mental health, in terms of what I think, but also my emotional health, or what I feel. This is just a process to get me to healed status.”
“Always find silver linings. I’m living with cancer but I’ve never felt better. For me, a lot of this journey is about mindset, but I’m very honest when I don’t feel good – that’s the acceptance and acknowledgement part of the cancer journey and that’s really important. But I feel good most of the time. I absolutely believe it’s because of my mindset. I really feel my life is bright.”
Links:
JustGiving
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/abbie-and-kelly-brave-the-shave