I’m shaving head to help those with cancer like me

A WOMAN who is battling breast cancer for the second time has shaved her head to support cancer research.

Ewa Gucciardo, 51, who lives in Henley, shaved off 10cm from her hair for the Macmillan Brave the Shave initiative to raise money for cancer research.

It is the second time she has shaved her head for the cause, after donating 13in of hair to the Little Princess Trust in June 2024.

Ms Gucciardo, who works at Reids of Henley dry cleaners, was diagnosed in December with breast cancer and thought it was important to donate to cancer research to raise awareness.

She said: “This time I only had a little bit of hair but I still cut it off. I have gone through cancer already, so I know how it is to have no hair because it falls out from chemotherapy.

“People use the hair you donate to make wigs, which are a little bit nicer than the plastic ones.

“I talk about it with people at work and they say, ‘it is so good that you talk about it because we didn’t know you can donate’.

“Since I have done it, many other people have done it, so it is great.”

Ms Gucciardo had her hair cut at Mr Bald’s barbershop in Greys Road. She said: “I think the barber was terrified. He asked me twice, ‘Are you sure?’

“I was like, man, I made up my mind a long time ago, I’m here, so why are you scared? He is a very nice guy.”

Ms Gucciardo first lost her hair while receiving chemotherapy treatment in her native Poland following her first diagnosis in 2017. She received radiation treatment and a left mastectomy and was in remission.

Losing her hair and left breast made her conscious of the way people look at those with physical differences.

Ms Gucciardo said: “First you think, ‘Oh god, what will people think when they look at me’, that was the only thought that came to my head when I had my head shaved. But it doesn’t matter what you look like, it matters what you do or what you think.

“Sometimes people will look at you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. We have to try to get rid of this a little bit, don’t look at other people because they look funny.

“When I was walking in the summer, people would stare at my chest. I was thinking to myself, ‘What are you looking at me like this for?’ If you had no arm or no leg people wouldn’t look at you like that.”

Ms Gucciardo was told her cancer had returned after visiting a doctor to complain about pain in her knee and back.

She said she had to visit a few times before the doctor made the diagnosis. She is currently receiving monthly bone treatments at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading but hasn’t been offered chemotherapy or radiation treatment because the cancer is incurable.

Ms Gucciardo said: “The problem is that it goes undetected for so long and then, when they find it, it’s too late. Doctors do their best, but sometimes that is just how it is.

“They give me a bone infusion to make my bones stronger because my cancer is incurable, they said, unless a miracle happens, or somebody finds a cure next week or next month.” She has also been given medication to slow the progression of the disease.

Ms Gucciardo said: “That’s why they say it is incurable, because we can only suppress it a little bit and try to control it somehow but they give me very good painkillers.

“Without them, I can’t get up from bed. This morning, I struggled for two hours to get up.

“People need to know about it and hear about it because if they don’t, they say ‘Oh, you look so well’, and I say, ‘But I don’t feel well, that’s the point’.

“Every one of us has something that we’re not well. Some people you can tell by looking at them that they are not well, but some people, they look well, but they’re not.

“You just have to be gentle with people, be careful when you talk to people, be kind, it costs nothing to be kind. My work is very flexible’. When I don’t feel well, I have a break, I make a cup of tea. They are so brilliant and look after me.”

To donate, visit tinyurl.com/y63fz8s4