Essex paramedic shaves head in charity event

Tasha Clarke, a paramedic from Clacton, has publicly shaved her head in a pledge which has seen £10,000 raised for a colleague’s wife, following her diagnosis of a rare form of breast cancer.

The event, which took place on Saturday (20^th February), was attended by more than 30 people and was just one of many compassionate efforts to show support for duty locality officer Steve Box and his wife Michelle.

Tasha said: “I’m good friends with Michelle and I thought I’d do what I can to help them and to help push donations up. Michelle thinks I’m mad and I’d probably agree with her but I was always going to go through with it.”

What started out as a small whip round soon snowballed into an astounding £10,000 raised in a matter of weeks. Steve and his family have been blown away with the support of everyone, he said: “It’s been absolutely amazing, we’ve been completely overwhelmed by the support and generosity of everyone involved.”

Colleague and close friend Marc Dixon set up the JustGiving page with the hopes of providing the family with a portion of costs for their dream holiday to Disney World in Florida. He said: “The JustGiving idea came as a result of a conversation that I had with paramedic Tanya Sharman after we were bouncing ideas around on how we could raise money.”

On the page Marc said: “It will be a massive achievement if we manage to raise all the funds and I appreciate it's a big ask. All donations are welcome, but may I suggest giving one hour of your basic pay to help Michelle’s wishes become a reality.”

Steve was not expecting the support that followed: “I’m not big online or with social media but I was told to have a look and I honestly couldn’t believe it.”

He added: “Thanks don’t seem to do it justice; my boys and wife get the trip of their life.”

The family will be flying out first class in April to Disney World, Florida for two weeks.

Published 25th February, 2016