Maidstone Breast cancer Radiologist shaves head in solidarity with colleague and friend

KentOnline / KMTV

After losing one of their mammographers to breast cancer last year, Samantha Barber chose to remove her hair and donate it to the Little Princess Trust.

Transcript

00:00So Samantha, it must be a difficult atmosphere at the moment for yourself and your colleagues

00:07like Sally. What drove you to take this step today?

00:10Well, it was just after Christmas we'd gone into work and Sally pulled me into a room

00:17and then said she'd found something on her chest. So it was from there quite scary to

00:23be fair and it was all quite quick wasn't it? I had your surgery and then chemo wasn't

00:30supposed to be on the cards and then it was coming part of the discussion and I said if

00:36you have chemo and lose your hair, that's what she was worried about the most, I said I'll shave mine

00:40and then chemo came along and so I did radiotherapy and here we are.

00:45You stuck to my word.

00:46Yeah, stuck to my word. But probably a couple of weeks after you were on your journey through

00:54Dad had a stroke, so obviously that solidified it. I needed to do something

00:58as well for him, try and raise some money and some awareness, but obviously we work with him breast.

01:04So breast cancer is part of our everyday life and obviously it has

01:07touched quite a few of our team in the past few years. So I just wanted to try and bring

01:12a bit more attention to it and do something radical.

01:16Absolutely.

01:16Which I've done this morning.

01:17Yeah, and it was, yes, it was only just today and Sally, tell me a bit about what your reaction was

01:23when you first heard from Sam that she'd be doing this for you.

01:26Well, I was blown away. I was actually quite emotional when she told me she was planning on

01:31shaving her head when she obviously found out I was going to start chemo and lose my hair.

01:37Absolutely really, really proud of her.

01:45To raise, I mean, she's already raised nearly £4,000, which is amazing.

01:51She's done so well. She's had so much support.

01:53I mean, we're all saying it's a very brave thing for Sam to do and Sam's saying she's not brave,

02:02it's only hair. But I know what it's like to lose hair. And it is a big deal.

02:08But you didn't have a choice.

02:09I didn't have a choice. But you've raised so much money. It's an amazing achievement.

02:16Absolutely. And tell us what was the atmosphere like today when you were actually having your

02:21hair shaved. Does it all feel a bit surreal? Or sort of like there's been a lot of build-up

02:25to the moment and then it actually happened? Or talk us through it.

02:27Well, I've obviously decided to donate my hair to Little Princess Trust. So obviously,

02:32when you have it cut, you can't have any product on it. And obviously, I've got naturally curly hair.

02:38So having to wash and dry it this morning with no serums and oils made it like a fluff ball.

02:43Yeah.

02:44So I was quite happy to get rid of it, to be fair. Everyone else around me, the team,

02:48were a bit tearful. They were all like, I can't believe you're doing this. Like,

02:54we feel stressed for you. But I was quite chilled, wasn't I?

02:56They were all so supportive.

02:58To get in my stride.

02:59Quite a big crowd, didn't we?

03:00Yeah.

03:00That's good. Lots of members of the team.

03:02Yeah.

03:02Yes.

03:02Was that all from the breast radiology department?

03:05Yeah.

03:05Or is it members from...?

03:06Yeah.

03:07So it must be quite a tight-knit community in there.

03:10Yeah.

03:10Very much so.

03:10Very good team.

03:11Yeah. And my surgeon cut one of your locks off, didn't he?

03:15Yeah. Breast cancer nurse.

03:16Which is nice.

03:17Some of the radiographers, some of the radiology assistants.

03:20That's amazing. I suppose it speaks to that togetherness and the unity in the team there.

03:24And Sally, what was it like for you in that moment?

03:31Quite emotional.

03:35Also a little comical to watch.

03:39Yeah, they enjoyed it.

03:41Amazing.

03:42We've been talking about it for quite a while now.

03:45So for actually, for us to get to that moment today, it was great.

03:50And it went so well.

03:51Had a good reaction.

03:55And someone, some lucky little girl or boy will have a nice wig now.

03:58That's true.

03:59So all for a good cause.

04:01And we haven't got very long left.

04:03But tell us, Sally, what would you say to anyone who maybe might be worried to go to the doctors

04:09if they suspect something or who might be struggling with cancer at the moment?

04:13What would you say to them?

04:14If they're worried, go to the GP straight away.

04:19We're a very friendly unit.

04:22You know, if they're in our area, we always put patient first.

04:26We've got fantastic team.

04:27So they must go to the GP.

04:37So they must go to the GP.

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