The grandmother of a four-year-old girl with cerebral palsy is shaving off her hair to help her family raise £30,000 for a life-changing operation she needs by the end of the month.
Carol Walters, 52, of Station Parade, Willesden, is heading to Michael Styles hair salon in Willesden High Road on Thursday for a special cut to help Bailey Walters-Lawrence raise the money she needs to help her walk.
All proceeds will go towards the Bailey’s Wish campaign, which is aiming to raise the remaining £7,000 for the surgery, while Ms Walters’ hair will also be donated to the Little Princess Trust, which makes real hair wigs for children suffering hair loss.
Ms Walters, a special educational needs co-ordinator, said: “I’m doing this because it’s imperative that I help my little grand daughter. I want her to have the chance to walk and move around that other children do.”
She appealed for the community to support her and said: “Please sponsor my head shave to raise money for my granddaughter’s operation that is no longer being funded by the NHS.
“I am going to shave all my hair off and all the money raised will go to Bailey’s Wish.”
More than £23,000 has been raised since the Brent & Kilburn Times launched the Bailey’s Wish campaign last month to help Bailey’s mother Shermel Walters-Lawrence raise £30,000 for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital after she was told NHS funding could no longer be found.
Ms Walters-Lawrence last week discovered she faces a further challenge to raise £15,000 for vital aftercare and physiotherapy to help Bailey have the best chance of moving around pain-free.
Michael Roberts, owner of Michael Styles, said: “It’s great the family had chosen us for this special event. We’ve known Bailey for a long time and we just want her to see that the love and support the community has for her.
“We’ll be taking donations throughout the day on Thursday and we’re planning to make a nice evening out of it with a number of surprises for Bailey and her family.”
Family members including Bailey’s big brother Shea, seven, and her uncle Chinua Nisbett will be taking part in sponsored runs to help little Bailey “walk, dance and play football pain free” while a number of “bake Bailey better” cake sales at schools and hospitals have raised hundreds of pounds in the last week.
Meanwhile Ms Walters-Lawrence has organised a flurry of fundraising events in aid of Bailey’s Wish which she is encouraging the community to get involved in.
To donate see Bailey’s Wish JustGiving page at justgiving.com/baileyswish/.
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