SHEDDING metres of hair between them, the Shaw family was fast approaching its ambitious World's Greatest Shave target on Saturday in a team effort inspired by the health battle of one of their own.
Jenny Shaw, 65, who raised 11 kids of her own and two foster children, is undergoing treatment for leukaemia, the cancer the popular national fundraising campaign is aimed at.
On Saturday morning, 10 family members lost their locks after another spent four hours in a salon "going orange" in a bid to raise $5000 for cancer research and support.
By the time all that hair had hit the floor at the Red Cliffs fire station, where several family members are firefighters, donations were nearing $4000 and the family was feeling confident they would reach their goal. By that evening, the total had passed $4500.
Sophie Maher, a daughter of Mrs Shaw and her late firefighter husband Glen Shaw, whose life was claimed by cancer, admitted she had initially had some doubts about whether the team could make as much money as they'd planned to, but that "I think we we'll do it now".
When Sunraysia Daily met the family last week to get the mandatory greatest-shave "before" picture, she explained that her mother had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January, and was now undergoing treatment in Melbourne.
She said her mum was getting chemotherapy but was "going really well at the moment".
The family's team name at the World's Greatest Shave website, which continues to accept donations beyond the campaign's official end date of March 19, is FourShaw.
On the team page, the family says: "Our mum is the strongest person we know. She has raised 11 of her own children, as well as two foster children and occasionally cares for her grandchildren.
"She lost her son, Luke, to a hit and run in 2005 and lost her husband to lung cancer in 2020, of whom was married for 46 years, although has still managed to continue to care for those around her."
The family also collected their cut hair in plaits to be donated for the manufacture of wigs for cancer patients.
One family member, Abby Sawyer-Snell, elected not to lose her long hair but instead had it dyed bright orange in a four-hour salon operation donated by Retro Hair in Langtree Mall.
You can donate to the campaign at worldsgreatestshave.com and search for FourShaw to donate to the Shaw family team.
