THE goal was $5000 and the final total was $16,000 and that is what Grace Keeping and her supporters put in the bank for The Kids’ Cancer Project after she shaved her head.
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If you think that’s amazing realise it wasn’t just the kids with cancer who’ll benefit from Grace’s gesture, it’s the women with cancer, too.
Her hair was tied into a long ponytail, cut, and sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, who are using the mane to make a wig for a woman whose hair has fallen out after chemotherapy.
So, why did Grace Keeping, from Two Rivers Estate, muster the courage to do what most of us couldn’t?
“I wanted to do something drastic because I have lived such a privileged life and I am so grateful for that and I wanted to try and do something for others in need.
“I just love kids and I can’t believe how much trauma they go through when they’re treated for cancer,” she said.
The Kids’ Cancer Project has invested over $24 million into research for children with cancer since it was founded by Col Reynolds.
“Since the 1980s, TKCP has made significant advancements in lowering the death rate for children fighting cancer, but there is still a long road ahead and I wanted to join the fight,” Grace Keeping said.
So a cunning plan was hatched.
“I organised it myself at a pub in Sydney because that’s where I went to school and I got an MC, a PA system, a stage, and heaps of raffle tickets.
“People were giving a lot of money, $100, $50, $20 at a time and that’s a lot of money and it was so touching that people came out of the woodwork to donate," she said.
Grace admits the night before the locks were lopped she was terrified.
“I wanted time to stop and slow down, I even thought, ‘What have I done,’ and then the emotions disappeared and it was phenomenal.
“People who I wouldn’t expect came and gave me a pat on the back and some even gave me a high-five,” she said.
Crisp and clipped, Grace has a new look and she is perhaps more beautiful today than she has ever been in her life.
“It’s so bizarre and so easy and I don’t have to wash it as often and, you know, before my hair was long and big and I always had to worry about what it looked like and how to fix it.
“Now that it’s gone I’ve got confidence I thought I’d never have and that’s something I never thought I’d get, so it’s the gift that just keeps on giving really,” she smiled.
To those who helped that $16,000 happen, Grace extends to all of you a huge “thank you”.
