Lost’s Locke & Lost Locks

This really will be a short one as I’m rapidly running out of my “day off” and haven’t yet had any me time. This isn’t particularly well written or “inspiring” because, to be honest, I’m really, really tired – physically & emotionally.

I’ve heard some interesting comments this week about altruism. The one that probably irritated me the most was a dig at me for supporting more than one cause. Apparently, one needs to be “about” a single thing. For example, “I thought you were raising money for an orphanage?” because I was banging on about Cate’s Cause – An Appeal Against Homelessness. According to some, you can’t do both. “You can’t ask people for donations for more than one cause or they’ll get confused and switch off”.

I’d just like to say, what I’m “about” is Global Change. I’m about making life better for everyone. I’m not necessarily all about raising money, or about raising awareness of specific issues. I’m also about making people think about how the things they do and say affect other people, and showing people that kindness alone is as valuable as fundraising and awareness. I’m about challenging people’s perceptions of themselves and what they are capable of when it comes to facilitating Global Change.

Obviously, when people are questioning your ability to split yourself between two causes, the best thing to do is… find a third one.

This week, I was lead into temptation. It didn’t take much LOL It was suggested that I should register for the World’s Greatest Shave to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.

If you haven’t heard of it (why not?) it’s an annual event where people register to either shave or colour their hair. They ask people to sponsor them, and their donations go to caring for patients and for research into better treatments and hopefully cures for blood cancers, such as leukaemia and lymphoma.

I have to admit, I didn’t really have much of an idea about leukaemia three days ago, when I went to the website to read about the event. I’ve been fortunate to have never known anyone with Leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. It’s another case of people living in their own worlds – I had never really had the need to know.

Unlike most people who register to do these things, I had no real close connection to Leukaemia, I’m still today trying to learn to spell it. I’m not doing this in the memory of anyone, it just seemed like something I could do. The only real condition for me entering was that people would guarantee to sponsor me.

It only took a couple of hours on Twitter to get 20 commitments of sponsorship, and yesterday I registered to shave off all my hair, down to a number 2 clipper.

It wasn’t until I registered, and the donations started to come through, did I really appreciate the importance of what I was doing. This message was left on my profile page: “this donation is in memory of my gorgeous friend Ellice Hammond who died from lymphoma leaving a 10 day old premature baby behind. Beautiful Mia is now a healthy 2yo”.

Not long after this message was posted: “this donation is for my niece Shanaya who was taken by cancer at the age of 2”

Yesterday while grocery shopping a woman, probably in her 50s stood discussing her chemotherapy with another shopper by the dried fruits. I glanced up at her whilst looking for the Home Brand sultanas to see her bald head, and beaming smile. This woman was speaking so highly of the medical team and support she’d received during her treatment. She was so truly grateful for the existence of treatment.

So, now I get it. As with everything I seem to do, I always find someone who is willing to criticise. The number of people who have suggested that I should ask for donations to keep my hair is remarkable.

Yes, I’m a woman and a great sense of my femininity stems from my long flowing locks of hair, and I am scared of losing my hair and part of what I see as my outward identity. I’m nowhere near as scared as I would be however to be told that my child had Leukaemia and to not know whether they would live or die.

I’m under no illusion that giving up my hair will make me any more able to empathise with someone with cancer. I can’t possibly imagine how terrible that would be, but if the money that I raise from doing this contributes to supporting the lady in the supermarket, or finding a better treatment or cure that means children like beautiful Mia can keep their mother, then why would I not give up my hair?

I have two thousand subscribers on my blog, and over 2,000 followers on Twitter. I’ve set my target at $4,000 – if you can help me reach it, it would be appreciated. Donate here.

And for those of you confused by the concept of supporting more than one cause – I’m sorry – I don’t think there’s anything I can say to help you to understand.

To quote one of my favourite characters, from my favourite TV show “Don’t tell me what I can’t do” (John Locke, Lost)

This is hair - nothing more, nothing less.

It was decided last night that my head would be shaved by The You Crew on March 13th and filmed for an episode of Planet You, dedicated to childhood cancer. I’m incredibly proud to say, this part was their idea

Click here to go to my sponsorship page