Hair we go!
Ethan braves the shave
A Hamilton schoolboy has taken his lockdown haircut to the next level – by using it to raise £300 for a Lanarkshire hospice.
Eleven-year-old Ethan Carstairs decided to shave three months’ worth of hair off in memory of his gran who died in St Andrew’s Hospice in 2017.
Through a Facebook fundraiser run by his mum, the youngster quickly pulled in £300 in donations to help the charity continue its vital work of providing palliative care to patients with life-limiting illness.
As with many organisations that rely on donations to keep going, the hospice has seen its income hit hard during the pandemic.
And it’s for this reason Ethan, who has just left St Mary’s Primary in the town, decided to act.
He said: “We miss my gran so much but remember how the care she got at the hospice made her feel better, even when she was really ill. My family was thinking of ways we could help them get money just now and I had the idea to shave my head.
“I was a wee bit nervous but when I saw all the people who had given money to my fund and were supporting me, I knew it was the right thing to do. I hope my gran would be proud.”
Retired medical secretary Janette Tiernan died in the hospice in September 2017, just 16 months after a diagnosis of metastatic bowel cancer. As her illness progressed she spent more than a month in the care of the hospice.
Ethan’s fundraiser is the latest of the grateful family’s efforts to generate much-needed donations towards its almost £100,000 a month running costs.
In 2019, when granddaughter Emily was volunteering in the hospice cafe, they donated a commercial coffee machine which could generate an estimated £9000 a year in profit for the hospice.