13-Year-Old Boy Shaves Head to Support Mum with Cancer and Raise Funds for Hospice

13-year-old Henry from Warrington, Cheshire, is raising money by shaving his head to support St Rocco’s Hospice, which provides palliative care to his 43-year-old mother Sarah after her stage four bowel cancer diagnosis. Henry decided he wanted to give back to the town’s hospice, stating: With this in mind I want to raise money to help support them in continuing to provide the support and care to others like they have my mum.

Treatment Shifts from Curative to Palliative Care

She underwent an initial operation to fit a stoma alongside chemotherapy, but the treatments failed to stop the disease from spreading to surrounding organs. She subsequently traveled to the Christie Hospital in Manchester for another operation and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, a specialized heated treatment used for specific peritoneal cancers. Scans performed in March revealed a number of inoperable nodes, shifting her care goals from curative to life-prolonging palliative treatment. Henry explained: She has had multiple operations which were unsuccessful and she is now on palliative treatment to prolong her life, adding that In the last few months St Rocco’s has helped my mum to come to turns with this and will be more help in the future.

Henry Shaves Head to Raise Hospice Funds

To show solidarity with his mother when nurses advised her that she would likely lose her hair during treatment, Henry planned to shave his head. The head shave is scheduled for October 8, and Henry has already raised more than £1,000 for St Rocco’s Hospice. Sarah also described Henry as a young carer who assists around the home when she feels unwell, while continuing to provide daily humor and support, calling him an amazing boy, such a caring loving young man and a larger than life character who makes me laugh every day which lightens the mood a lot. Sarah added that she was immensely proud of what he has achieved.

Hospice Provides Therapies for Sarah and Family

St Rocco’s Hospice has been supporting Sarah for approximately four months, offering complementary therapies not only to her but also to her mother, who has aided the family over the past 18 months. Alongside Henry and Sarah, the household includes a 19-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son. Sarah mentioned that the support from family, friends, and the wider community has been amazing, noting that their generosity has blown me away.