Donna braves the shave for friend Carol

A woman has taken a journey out of her comfort zone to help a friend’s fight against cancer.

Donna has gone through with the head shave to raise funds for her friend Carol Player, who is suffering from cancer in the liver and needs £160,000 to fund treatment

Donna Davenport has undergone a full head shave to help her friend Carol Player in her ongoing battle against liver cancer and ocular melanoma.

Carol has been taking a trial drug called Delcath Melferlan Chemosaturation, but has been left needing £160,000 to pay for the treatment after funding for trial drugs was stopped due to Covid-19.

Donna Davenport prepares to have her long locks shaved off for charity

Donna, who works for West Midlands Ambulance Service as a patient transport service driver, said she had been wracking her brain thinking of ways to help her friend.

The 54-year-old. from Pelsall, said: “I’m not very good at running or a good public speaker, so I was desperately thinking of things I could do when it just came to me to get my head shaved.

The work begins to shave off Donna's hair

“I’ll admit I felt sick as a dog before doing it and now I feel cold without my hair, but I know that through the discomfort, I’ve done some good for Carol.”

The head shave, which has already raised £3,000, took place at Aldridge Community Centre and was carried out by Ryan Teer, owner of The Salon in Aldridge, with friends and family there in support.

Donna said the reactions from her friends, family and work colleagues – and from Carol in particular – during the lead-up to the head shave had been a “surprise and shock”.

Ryan Teer from The Salon in Aldridge goes to work shaving off Donna's hair

She said: “I did need to check with work if I could do it, in line with the dress code, but they’ve all been really supportive.

“When Carol found out, she couldn’t stop laughing as she thought I was joking, but she’d been really pleased with the outcome of it.

"It seemed like the least I could do and if you think about who is the most important person in your life, you’d do the same for them.”

Carol, Donna and Ryan celebrate the end of the shave, which has raised £3,000 and will see Donna's hair also go to charity to create wigs

Carol praised her “amazing” friend for doing the head shave, adding: “I feel ecstatic she did it, but also upset she had to as she had a lovely head of hair.

"She said to me, ‘nothing compares to what you’re going through, Carol’, so I feel so overwhelmed by her doing this for me.”

To find out more about Carol and to donate towards her cause, click here