A University of Queensland medical student suffering from a rare, incurable blood cancer is leading a team with a $60,000 fundraising goal in the World’s Greatest Shave campaign.
John Maunder, 21, is already without hair due to chemotherapy treatment so he enlisted 20 of his friends and family to shave their heads for the Leukaemia Foundation’s biggest fundraising event, taking place this week (March 14-17).
Team Maunder already has raised almost $50,000 and the members hope their shave at Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel on Friday (March 15) will raise another $10,000.
Following the removal of an enlarged lymph node last December, John received the devastating diagnosis of nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“With the support of my loving family and friends, I am coping, and am determined to beat this, but I am now aware of how hard it must be for others,” John wrote on Facebook.
John is undergoing ABVD chemotherapy, now one of the most common regimens for treating Hodgkin’s Disease. Under this treatment, John receives four drugs.
His side effects include nausea, hair loss and ulcers, and there is potential for heart and lung impairments.
Two weeks into treatment, John began studying medicine at UQ.
“I get bleeding noses, headaches, bone pain, fatigue and nausea, just to name a few,” he said.
“For each week following treatment, I feel like I am fighting the worst hangover of my life – while being seasick with the flu.
“To top it all off, I know that due to my dying blood cells, I am severely prone to infection which will immediately place me in hospital.
“This makes university slightly difficult.”
One of John’s mates from high school, Louis Stephen, has signed up to Team Maunder and will “be brave and shave”. Louis is studying for a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at UQ.
“It’s a great cause to get behind,” Louis said. “Many people are touched by cancer – my older brother also had cancer.”
John said 31 Australians were diagnosed with blood cancer every day.
“Every dollar brings us closer to a cure, so I urge people to help me and my team meet our fundraising goal,” he said.
The official shave at the Regatta Hotel will take place at 4pm tomorrow (Friday). The hotel will donate $1 to the cause for each local beer sold.
For more information visit Team Maunder's Leukaemia Foundation page or John's Facebook page.
The Leukaemia Foundation expects more than 150,000 people will get sponsored to shave, colour or wax their hair to help change the lives of Australians with blood cancer.
Event Details:
What: Official Shave for Team Maunder (World’s Greatest Shave event)
When: 4pm, Friday 15 March 2013
Where: Regatta Hotel, Toowong, Brisbane
Media: Belinda Berry, UQ Communications, +617 3365 3439 or communications@uq.edu.au
