Sarah Caddick has been receiving treatment for cancer for the past three years and her wife Tanis has been by her side every step of the way.

Physically and emotionally the 42-year-old has supported her wife since her diagnosis but Tanis wanted to do something that visibly showed they were fighting the battle against the disease together and raise money for the charity that has helped them both so much.

On Monday, June 28, Tanis, who lives in Orford, will be braving the shave and losing her long, red locks in a bid to raise £1,000 for Macmillan Cancer Care.

The charity head shave will be timed for when Sarah leaves hospital after her latest round of treatment, which will inevitably mean she loses her hair as a result of the intensive chemotherapy at Clatterbridge.

Three and half years ago Sarah fell poorly with suspected appendicitis and after having her appendix removed doctors found high levels of protein deposits, but she was told it wasn’t anything to be concerned about.

Six months later, she found lumps in her breast and biopsy results again showed high levels of protein.

Sarah was diagnosed with myeloma and amyloidosis and placed under the care of University College London (UCL) where, up until the Covid-19 outbreak, she was travelling down to the capital regularly for tests and treatment.

However, planned chemotherapy was put on hold after Sarah fell ill with blood clots on her lungs and doctors decided further treatment was too risky.

She spent seven weeks in hospital and, once she was well enough, she received three different courses of chemotherapy which were all unsuccessful.

Next week, Sarah, who is 49, will start stem cell treatment at home where she will have to give herself daily injections to increase her stem cell levels.

The following week, she will go into hospital for a month where doctors will harvest the stem cells and freeze them before giving Sarah a high dose of chemotherapy.

The harvested cells will be reintroduced into Sarah’s body in the hope they make their way to her bone marrow and ‘reset’ her condition.

Tanis said: “After seeing what Sarah has been through over the last few years, I just wanted to do something but didn’t know what.

“I got to the age of 40 and had never given blood.

“Sarah has had 12 blood transfusions over the past three years so I decided to become a blood donor and pay that back.

“We know Sarah will lose her hair when she has chemotherapy and even though she has short hair already this will obviously affect her.

“I wanted to do something supportive and shave off my hair so that when she comes out of hospital, we will both have no hair.

“It gives us someone else to focus on, albeit something small, and it’s also a way of raising money for the Macmillan nurses who have helped us both so much.”

To make a donation to Tanis’ page visit https://bravetheshave.macmillan.org.uk/shavers/tanis-caddick