WHEN Liz Wright announced that she planned to shave her head to raise a few dollars for Ovarian Cancer Australia, the Wangi Wangi community was never going to let her go it alone.
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On Friday night, the community filed into Wangi RSL Club, to support Ms Wright who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
What followed was an extraordinary outpouring of love and generosity, and something that Ms Wright never saw coming.
While many were there to offer support for Ms Wright as she prepares for chemotherapy and the battle of her life, nine other locals stepped into barber Steve Hannon’s chair to also go under the clippers.
In the process, they helped to raise more than $7000.
Ms Wright’s close friend, Cherrie Wittman, said Ms Wright was about to begin chemotherapy, and was told she would lose her hair.
“Well, Liz just told them that she’d rather lose her hair on her terms, so she decided she was going to have her hair shaved at the club,” Ms Wittman said.
“When we started to organise this all very quickly, we set out to raise $1000 on the night,”
That target was reached before Friday. Wangi Wangi businesses rallied and donated a stack of items that were raffled on the night.
Ms Wittman said there were many highlights.
“There was a huge effort from Darren Campbell who got his head shaved and raised $1315 thanks to his work mates at Eraring power station, and then Origin Energy matched that amount, dollar for dollar, for a total amount to $2630,” she said.
“It was also an emotional night for Jerard O'Neil who had his head shaved to support Liz and raise money for Ovarian Cancer Australia because his mother, Beverly O'Neil, died of ovarian cancer in January this year.”
Ms Wright said the main purpose of the night was to provide women with the information they needed to boost their chances of early detection of ovarian cancer.
“At this point in time there is no real noted screening for ovarian cancer but after talking to doctors there is a couple of things we could do that just might save our lives,” she said.
“First, a simple blood test [CA125 ] once a year, and every two years a transvaginal ultrasound which, although not a 100 per cent guarantee, is the only early marker available. An elevated blood test would have your doctor look further.”
Symptoms for ovarian cancer can be vague, or there can be none at all.
Some patients experienced symptoms such as back pain, bloating, feeling over-full after eating, and urination urgency, which some women tended to explain away.
- Go to ovariancancer.net.au for more information.