Burgess Hill woman, 55, ‘braves the shave’ for Macmillan: Petula gets number one buzzcut to raise £1,335 for cancer support

Petula Summerfield, 55, of Chiltington Close, got a number one buzzcut on Wednesday, August 9, to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

The big event took place at Hair & Beauty For Everyone on Maple Drive and marked four years since Petula’s father passed away.

“He didn’t die of cancer but my grandad died of cancer,” Petula told the Middy, adding that her mother is currently living with cancer as well.

She said: “I did Race for Life in 2015 in Horsham where I raised over £2,000 for Cancer Research. I wanted to do Brave the Shave four years ago but unfortunately my Dad passed away. I’ve known a lot of people who have died. I do suffer with anxiety but I decided that now is the right time and I want to do it.”

Petula said her regular hairdresser Tracey was the person who gave her the ‘shave’ free of charge. Before the big day she said: “I’m looking forward to raising the money, to helping people with cancer and helping make a difference to them, because I know my hair will grow back. You know so people lose their hair and have to wear wigs. I don’t mind doing it for cancer research. I’ll do anything to raise money to help people.”

Petula’s target on her online fundraiser at bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/shavers/petula-summerfield was £150. But she has smashed this by raising £1,355 so far.

She said: “Raising this much for Macmillan has been amazing.”

Petula explained that she wanted to raise money for Macmillan specifically because they nursed her grandad through cancer. She said: “They were there at night with him, the Macmillan nurses, and they were brilliant.”

After the shave she thanked her sister, mother, family, wife, work colleagues, boss and friends for the support, plus her friend Pippa for contacting the Middy about her challenge and ‘for making the day so special’. She also thanked her main sponsors P & S Gallagher, plus everyone else who supported her.

Petula said: “It gets a bit emotional at times because raising that amount of money for Macmillan is absolutely fantastic.”