Husband seeks £5k sponsorship for overdue haircut in honour of late wife’s cancer battle
With support from the community, Martin Kaye plans to get his first post-Covid chop in honour of Michele, who passed away from bowel cancer five months ago
A husband who lost his 56-year-old wife to bowel cancer five months ago is looking to fundraise £5k to have a long overdue haircut to champion the charities that helped her.
During her illness, Michele Kaye, from Mill Hill, received dedicated support from cancer charity Chai and Bowel Cancer UK. She was also a beloved client at the Kink salon in Daws Lane, north-west London, where Martin, who grew his hair during lockdown, aims to finally have it cut on 10 September and raise £5k in the process.
Writing on his JustGiving page, Kaye says that over the Covid period “like everyone else I had no choice but to let my hair grow but after, when we were told we could go back to the hairdressers, I decided to continue to let it grow for charity and to donate it in Michele’s name.”
To date, the page has raised more than £1,400 from 21 generous donors.
Kaye’s hair will be made into a wig and given to a cancer victim who has lost their hair due to chemotherapy.
As his wife’s condition got worse, the couple were recommended to Chai Cancer Care.
“In this safe haven,” writes Martin, “Michele was able to receive complimentary therapies to help her as well as counselling. When you are living with someone who is terminally ill you try imagine how you are going to feel when they are not around but when the day comes when your loved one passes, the world that you knew and loved suddenly ends and all you are left with is pain, confusion and emptiness.”
Describing Chai as “an amazing support for our family”, not only while Michele was alive but “helping us rebuild our lives” and “manage that pain and grief as it doesn’t just go away over night”, Martin is appealing to friends, family and the wider community for “both of these fantastic causes so we can help other families to use the centre as their life line.”
Chai chairman, Louise Hager, said: “We are so touched that Chai is one of the charities that Martin has chosen to support, dedicated to his dear wife Michele. Each donation is deeply appreciated and will help us to continue to provide our support and care to all those who turn to us.”
Describing Kink Hair salon as Michele’s “happy place, in good days and bad days”, Martin adds that “although we want to eliminate cancer, sometimes we can’t cure but we can help. Please give whatever you can.”
All proceeds will be split evenly between Bowel Cancer UK and Chai Cancer Care.
You can sponsor Martin’s haircut here
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
