A FERMANAGH native 'braved the shave' recently, in memory of three special people, choosing to lose her locks for a fundraiser close to her heart.

To mark the anniversaries of her grandparents's death, Sarah Clingen (20), who grew up in Lisnaskea but currently lives in Glasgow, bravely gave up her crowning glory as she shaved her head to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Just two years ago, Sarah's grandfather, Addison Clingen from Lisnaskea, died of cancer on June 2, 2019, with his late wife – Sarah's grandmother, Margaret, an alopecia sufferer – passing away on May 21, 2016.

Sarah, who has had long hair her entire life, was also showing her support for another important person in her life, Addison's brother, George, who died of cancer in 2019.

Her waist-length hair will now be sent to the Little Princess Trust, that provides real-hair wigs for children and young people with hair loss.

Through the fundraiser, Sarah has already raised more than £3,300 for Macmillan Cancer Support at the time of writing.

A first year mechanical student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Sarah got great encouragement from her sisters, Victoria and Naomi, who looked on at the hair-raising event held in Edinburgh.

"My hair has always been pretty long and I just thought it would be a cool thing to do," Sarah said. "Both my granda and his brother died within a short time of each other in 2019.

"We were all so close to my grandparents; I grew up beside them. My granda was so lovely, and he was always so caring about other people."

Sarah, who was eager to do the shave, decided a few months ago to do it to mark her grandfather's anniversary.

"I had been talking about this for a while and had seen other people do it, so I kind of just wanted to give something back," said Sarah.

"When I told my parents what I was planning to do, they were a bit surprised at first, and thought it was kind of a crazy thing to do!

"However, when they realised just how serious I was about it, they were very supportive. My mother just wanted to make sure that it was done right. She wanted a hairdresser to do it, but I'm very close to my sisters, and I trusted them to carry it out."

When Sarah set up her JustGiving page in May, she exceeded all expectations in the first day. She had set a target of £500, but as donations came flooding in, by the end of day one she had already raised that amount.

"I even had people donating just for Macmillan Cancer Support on my behalf, but not actually sending money to the JustGiving page, so that was pretty cool," said Sarah.

Sarah said she has been overwhelmed by the generosity and is thrilled to have smashed her target by £2,800 more than her original target.

"I thought if I could get £500, that would be great," said Sarah. "I had been talking about doing this for a long time. I wanted to make a difference to those causes, even if it is just a small amount.

"I would like to thank all those who have so far donated," she said. "I will keep my JustGiving page up for a bit longer, just to give more people a chance to donate.

"I'm not sure how my hair is going to grow back! If it grows to my shoulder, then I might keep it like that. I'd like to get it dyed or something; maybe red.

"All my friends and family are just so cool about what I have done, and are very supportive," she said.

Anyone who would like to donate can go to Sarah's JustGiving page, at https://tinyurl.com/45m8jyet.