Women to shave their head in solidarity with Rushden friend who is battling cancer

Two women will brave the shave this weekend to raise money after their best friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Sharon Prendergast, 51, and Gail Smith, 53, will lose their long locks in solidarity with Paula Nicholson, 56, who lives in Rushden.

The three met when they were working at St Andrew's in Northampton more than 20 years ago and have been best friends ever since.

But two months ago Paula, who works at Northampton General Hospital, was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer which was later declared stage 3 after more scans and treatment.

She is currently undergoing chemotherapy and has lost her hair so Sharon and Gail, who live in Northampton, are going to lose their hair as well this weekend.

Gail, a nurse on the dementia ward at St Andrew's, said: "We decided to shave our heads because Paula loved her hair so much and she was always pristine. We thought losing it in chemotherapy would be the worst thing for her.

"We just wanted to show her how much she means to us and do the same in solidarity. It's only hair but she means so much to us."

For many years Paula has played in a brass band for Boobs and Brass to raise money for breast cancer charities after she lost her mum and a sister to breast cancer and another sister survived it.

Paula has responded to chemotherapy well and has just had her third round.

Sharon, a Parkinson's nurse in the north of the county, said: "She is doing amazingly well. She looks stunning."

On Saturday (August 8) at 2pm the pair will be live-streaming their head shave from Sharon's back garden.

They will be donating their locks to cancer charities with Sharon giving away 23in and Gail giving 15in to charity.

Gail said she is feeling good about the head shave - but Sharon is bricking it.

She said: "I have always had long hair that I could sit on. It sort of feels like part of me."

Even without having an opportunity to go out and fundraise because of Covid they have still raised an impressive £3,630 for the charity Target Ovarian Cancer.

And they also want to raise awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer which include persistent bloating, lower abdominal pain, feeling full all the time and urinary frequency.

Some who suffer also have vaginal bleeding, changes in bowel habit and weight loss and fatigue.

Gail said: "There are a lot of symptoms of ovarian cancer which on their own are quite non-specific. It's not taken particularly seriously and by the time you have all of the symptoms you are at stage 3 or 4.

"What we want to do is not only raise money but raise awareness."

And Sharon said: "We feel that we should raise money to help and so that people are aware of the symptoms of cancer. We can change outcomes for people."

To donate to their cause, click here.

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