Help me take a stand against blood cancer
Why am I doing the world’s greatest shave.. well let me share my story with you. In December of 2014 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, shortly after life started moving pretty quickly with a double mastectomy and intense chemotherapy. Of course as many others have I lost my hair during chemo, I know to some it’s only hair but what hurt was I did not have a say nor a choice it is what had to happen for me to be healthy! After chemo my surgeon felt the best approach was for me to have my ovaries removed as I had a primary cancer and the 80% chance of it regrowing in my ovaries wasn’t something I wanted to face. So here i was at the ripe old age of 38 going on HRT to prevent menopause from creeping in. Now I wish my story ended here but yet it continues, in 2021 after an ultrasound detected ovarian tissue, and some nasty looking lesions I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 2, fortunately this was not linked to my breast cancer, unfortunately though it meant I had grown a seperate primary cancer! After gaining another specialist I underwent more surgery to remove the remaining ovarian tissue and to remove the cancer. And then you guessed it another set of intense chemo! Of course knowing I would once again lose my hair I decided to take back some of the little control I had, and decided to shave my head in the comfort of my home with my beautiful family surrounding me, even though I knew it would fall out and I would once again have a naked head, I just wanted to have a choice of when and where. Now I would love to tell you that after all of that debacle I am fit and healthy at 48 (that’s right a decade of fighting cancer) but unfortunately throughout the years of fighting the cancer and completing gene sequencing I have been told that I have a mutated gene known as RAD51C and this gene loves to collect cancers, so at any point in my life I’m at risk of several different cancers including, blood, bone, brain and liver. Due to having the mutated gene my oncologist put me on a medication known as niraparib which is a tablet form chemo that I took every day for 3 years. Now as many of us know chemo is a brutal and nasty medication that has many side effects, so within the 3 years the side effects I suffered were endless but the biggest ones were, deterioration to my spine resulting in spinal surgery (2024), deterioration to my nerves in my right arm resulting in surgery (2023) and then my left arm nerves decided to join the party and required surgery as my nerves were so badly damaged that I could’ve lost the arm (2024). I suffered with memory issues, chronic pain in my joints and well many more. The biggest side effect I had from my chemo medication that I was taking to prevent a 3rd cancer was a diagnoses of pre-leukaemia, you read that right my medication which again was to prevent another cancer was causing blood cancer. All of this new information meant that I had to immediately stop taking my niraparib and allow my body and blood to fix the damage it had done, 3 months after stopping the medication I can confirm that I no longer have Pre-leukaemia, however that does mean I am unprotected from the many other cancers I could encounter. Now the reason for me sharing my story is to show you that in the decade I have been fighting my battle I have never once had the control. Everything I did was to survive and to be able to watch my children and my grandchildren grow. But now I want control, I want to make a choice, I want to shave my hair because I get to decide too, not because I’m going to face gruelling chemo, and not because it’s going to save my life, but because simply I want too.
Before
After
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Your Impact
Help me earn the Discovery badge. That's enough to fund 3 months of laboratory costs for a research project to discover better treatments for blood cancer.
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Wrap Around Care
Raised $50,000
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Research Outcomes
Raised $25,000
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Clinical Trial
Raised $10,000
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Financial Support
Raised $7500
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Discovery
Raised $4800
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Transportation
Raised $2500
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Personalised Treatment
Raised $1000
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Place to Stay
Raised $560
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Helping Hand
Raised $250
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Lab Equipment
Raised $53
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Off the Mark
Raised $1
I’m $1,157 away from my next impact milestone. Please help me reach it.
Donate nowMy Achievements
Help me earn the Discover badge. That’s enough to fund 3 months of laboratory costs for a research project to discover better treatments for blood cancer.
I’m $4040 away from my next impact milestone. Please help me reach it.
Donate now
Signed Up!
$1
$250
$560
$4,800
$10,000
Thank you to my Sponsors
Cam Jakovcich
2025-01-30 22:16:28
$334.80
Tammi & Michael
2025-03-05 19:14:10
Love you lots warrior woman! Super proud of you! I wonder if it will grow out curly this time? ;p
$312.90
Cody Hoekzema
2025-01-31 13:11:30
$211
Casey Byrnes
2025-01-30 14:31:32
$158.25
Trish Murfett
2025-02-21 20:08:10
You have and always will be bloody amazing. You go girl xx
$158.25
Amy Guihot
2025-02-09 17:40:50
$158.25
Kaylee Hoekzema
2025-01-30 15:07:57
So beyond proud of you mumma ❤️
$106.12
Jamie, Dave, Kayla And Ollie X
2025-02-26 21:22:41
Love you x
$106.12
Jo And Dan Wilson
2025-01-31 09:31:53
We are so damn proud of you. You are one strong amazing lady. We will always be right by your side walking this journey with you no matter what. Love you always and forever xxx
$106.12
Angelo Pais
2025-02-04 17:27:23
Let’s gooo superwoman! 🦸♀️ love your work Mum ❤️
$106.12
Anthony Terranova
2025-01-30 23:33:17
Proud of you ❤️
$106.12
Natalie H
2025-01-31 10:34:24
Your amazing!
$100
Joanne Boycott
2025-02-04 23:57:59
You're amazing Sharon ... happy to give to this great cause! xx
$85.48
Fiona Foley
2025-01-31 21:30:07
$85.48
Blonde In Common
2025-01-30 22:16:12
$85.48
Kat And Girls 💕
2025-02-09 19:37:41
You are a pillar of strength and beauty, love you lots, you go girl xx
$80
Trin Sheldon
2025-01-30 22:59:00
You are the most bravest strongest beautiful woman I’ve ever met my love and will ever meet. Your courage goes beyond and I so look up to you. Love you lots Auntie Trin
$64.67
Anonymous
2025-01-31 00:12:11
Keep going
$64.67
Anonymous
2025-01-30 16:33:37
$57.30
Christine Hoekzema
2025-02-15 03:45:23
Good luck darling.
$57.30
Kodie Mcevoy
2025-01-31 03:32:35
You’re an inspiration Sharon!I can’t even imagine what you havegone through.I worked with your son Cody on the Submarines.My partner Tim,who worked theretoo has T All Acute Lymphoblastic leukaemia.Hes just had a stem Cell Transplant.Wishing you all best x
$57.30
Marilyn Bashfield
2025-01-31 08:55:26
Go girl
$57.30
Kay Sparidaans
2025-02-15 13:23:54
$57.30
Trudy Gilmour
2025-02-19 09:51:24
$57.30
Shannon Richards
2025-01-30 22:59:42
$55.48
Chris Hoekzema
2025-01-29 13:30:20
So very proud of you Babydoll, You are a warrior!!!
$54.12
Anne Craine
2025-02-14 23:03:34
Congratulations honey, so very proud of you and your positive attitude and how you never let anything bring you down xo
$54.12
Mick & Kylie
2025-02-01 09:46:28
Inspirational and sooo much more. We love you 💓💙
$54.12
Samantha Kimpton
2025-03-14 21:00:48
$54.12
Helen Park
2025-01-30 15:19:37
$54.12
Alex Wright
2025-01-30 22:00:33
$54.12
Kelly Ang
2025-01-31 15:32:03
Amazing, brave lady 🩷
$50
Nathan Halbert
2025-03-14 21:49:57
All the best!
$33.15
Margo
2025-01-31 11:29:33
$33.15
Berneice Mortimer
2025-02-14 21:56:10
Good on you Sharon. Very proud of you.
$33.15
Jayden De Rosa
2025-01-31 00:05:46
$33.15
Emma Mcphail
2025-01-30 22:07:11
$27.81
Steve & Tammy Martin
2025-02-20 22:28:11
You are such an amazing women
$27.81
Wendy Mccall
2025-01-30 15:10:11
$27.81
Michael And Leonie
2025-01-30 14:20:59
I admire your strength xxxxx
$27.81
Tammy Rafala
2025-02-09 16:18:15
$22.58
Jane Jennings
2025-01-30 16:48:29
Great cause. Xx
$22.58
Montana Knight
2025-01-30 15:47:33
$22.58
Anonymous
2025-01-29 13:13:40
$22.58
Zarlie Stubbs
2025-01-30 16:13:14
$20
Simone Taylor
2025-02-26 22:16:40
$20
Anonymous
2025-01-31 01:13:21
$20
Sandra Jarvis
2025-01-30 18:58:40
Lots of love ❤️
$11.65
Aj Bewick
2025-01-30 15:22:07
$11.65
Kim Skinner
2025-03-14 21:28:22
$11.65
Andrew Hoekzema
2025-01-30 23:40:24
$10
Your support is changing lives with the Leukaemia Foundation
50 years of supporting Australians with blood cancer
The World's Greatest Shave is the flagship fundraising initiative of the Leukaemia Foundation. This iconic campaign helps us provide wraparound health services for patients and their families – and powers groundbreaking research and campaigns for change.
Fuelled by our community of patients, carers, healthcare professionals, researchers, specialists, and supporters just like you, we're committed to achieving our goal of zero lives lost to blood cancer by 2035.
