A TEENAGER is shaving her head for charity this weekend to help raise awareness about a rare condition that she lives with.
14-year-old Ella Hicks lives with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and as well as raising awareness of the condition, she is hoping to raise £500 for the charity, CRPS UK.
“She is going to go bald and have all her hair shaved off, a task which may cause her some considerable pain due to her CRPS,” explained Ella’s father, Matthew Hicks.
“Ella is wheelchair-bound as the condition has left her unable to walk, yet she tries to lead as normal a life as possible, and she even surprises us by her ability to work out how to overcome the problems this condition throws at her.
“As a someone who suffers from this complex and rare condition, she feels it is important to try and raise money for the only charity supporting sufferers in the UK.”
About what inspired her to organise her own headshaving fundraiser, Ella told White Horse News, “I saw a lot of other people doing it for cancer charities and I thought that they [cancer charities] are quite big and get a lot of money – so I wanted to do it for CRPS – it doesn’t have a lot of awareness and I just wanted to spread the message.
“I feel a little bit nervous about the headshave, but mostly excited – I would like to say thank you to everyone that has donated so far, we’ve raised over £300, which is an amazing amount of money.”
Ella will have her head shaved this Saturday, 31st October, at a barber shop in Trowbridge. To support Ella and donate to CRPS UK, visit the website: https:// uk.virginmoneygiving.com/EllaHicks2
CRPS UK is a charity that offers support, education, assists with research and raises awareness of CRPS. More information about the charity and CRPS can be found on the website: www.crps-uk.org
