Delaney’s Fight
This year my sister (Kate) and myself are being “brave and shaving” our hair off in support of my sister's colleague and friend, Delaney, as part of the 2025 World’s Greatest Shave. Delaney is a 27 year old Paediatric Nurse, who has unfortunately been diagnosed, in March (2025), with a rare sub type of Leukaemia. While any cancer type is a fight, her diagnosis has resulted in a longer treatment timeline and a longer fight than initially thought. Her family live rurally and have now had to rely on a strong support system and services available to reside temporarily in Melbourne to be close to treatment and therapies necessary to overcome this unfortunate diagnosis.
In Kate's words, "Delaney is one of the most giving people whose smile lights up a room. She’s a girl who turns rain into rainbows, lemons into lemonade and usually puts everyone’s needs ahead of her own…even now while in hospital as a patient!"
As my sister is unable to donate blood, Kate and I have decided to shave our heads together in Delaney's honour as a way of raising funds to support her and her family through the Leukaemia Foundation and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre.
The money raised will go towards providing services to her and her family including but not limited to; therapies for her such as regular massage therapy while in hospital, Melbourne based accommodation for her and her mum, vital tests to be created that are specially for her and her type of leukaemia and services to support her emotional and physical wellbeing. Our hair will grow back- but we hope the large hair cut will create awareness of Leukaemia and create conversation of checking in with those around us and advocating for our own health and wellbeing. Most if not all people reading this will have been affected by cancer either directly or indirectly…and will also know that it unfortunately doesn’t discriminate. So please dig deep and donate what you can, as every dollar counts!
Thank you for the support we’ve already received- even words of encouragement count
Laura King & Kate Westerman
