By Brendan Rees
Sarah Mader is loving her new multi-coloured hair style.
But by doing it, she has raised money for an important cause.
After learning her partner, Mark was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia last New Year’s Eve, Ms Mader wanted to do all she could to support him
“I’d give anything for him not to have to go through this,” she said. “If we can fund a cure perhaps others won’t have to.”
And just like that, Ms Mader of Cranbourne, decided to sign up to the World’s Greatest Shave for the Leukaemia Foundation.
She shared her profile on Facebook, and the support quickly rolled in from the community.
Her fundraising target was $3000. To date, she has raised $2560.
Ms Mader had her hair coloured purple and blue at Zenity Hair Salon in Cranbourne East on Wednesday, 14 March.
“I absolutely love it,” she says.
“I would’ve happily shaved,” she said. “I left it up to the donors whether I would shave or colour my hair. I just kept a tally going.”
Ms Mader had never met the hairdresser before but says “I know she did some radical colours.”
“I got a hold of her and why I’m doing it and she was great. She donated her time, her products, her talent.”
In January, Mark was fighting for his life – desperate for platelet donations.
Fortunately, he survived with several bags of Human Leukocyte Antigen matched platelets.
But Mark is back in hospital again starting his second round of chemo. “Hopefully this goes a lot better than the last time,” Ms Mader said.
She said leukaemia patients relied on platelet donations to survive and encouraged everyone to make blood donations.
Anyone interested in sponsoring Ms Mader can visit: https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?RegistrationID=699809.
