A Perthshire woman is shaving her head to raise money for a seven-year-old boy’s “last chance” leukaemia treatment in Italy.
Dundee youngster Garvie Winter has been through five rounds of chemotherapy after being diagnosed in October.
However, the treatment did not have the desired effect and his family are now trying to raise £95,000 for alternative treatment abroad.
Family friend Kassi-Lee Logan, 32, is one of a number of people across Tayside who are donating and fundraising for Garvie.
Kassi-Lee, from Invergowrie, said: “Garvie’s mum Haley and I have been friends since school and as soon as I heard about his illness I decided to do something.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what Haley and her family are going through as his treatment has failed.
“Initially I wanted to do something like a skydive, but it costs money to do that and I wanted everything I raise to go straight to Garvie.
“I’m not nervous about shaving my head. It’s only hair and it will grow back.
“Garvie needs the money more than I need my hair.”
Garvie, who goes to Fintry Primary School, first started showing symptoms on the weekend of October 21-22 when his family noticed he was sleeping a lot and feeling unwell.
He went to school that Monday but had to be taken home the following day by his grandmother as he was a “grey” colour and “didn’t seem right”.
His parents took him to Ninewellls Hospital for blood tests and he was transferred to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where specialists confirmed he had leukaemia.
Haley, 32, said: “This has been devastating and so hard for us.
“We don’t have answers about why his illness is resistant to chemotherapy, no one seems to know.
“It’s very frustrating but we will fight for him.
“We’re trying to raise £95,000 for him to go to Italy and have a treatment called Car T Cell therapy.
“It’s Garvie’s last chance.
“People have been very generous,we’ve got around £13,000 raised so far.”
Car T Cell is a type of immunotherapy where cells are extracted from the patient’s blood and an artificial “receptor” is added, which enables the modified cell to produce chemicals that kill the cancer.
To donate towards Garvie’s treatment, visit https://www.gofundme.com/garvies-car-t-cell-funds
Kassi-Lee’s headshave will take place on July 31 at 1pm at Fraser Graeme hair salon in Invergowrie.
To sponsor Kassi-Lee, visit https://www.gofundme.com/get-garvie-to-italy
