By KATH GANNAWAY
YARRA Junction teenager Emily Barrand will shave her head in memory of her much-loved and very much missed grandfather.
Emily’s ‘Pop’, Terry Jackson, died at just 64 of a very rare type of lymphoma on 19 January.
“The cancer took my grandfather within four treatments of chemotherapy, about four months after the diagnosis,” Emily said, adding that specialists in three states had never seen the particular type of cancer before.
She said her grandfather was a very special man, having served on HMAS Sydney during the Vietnam War.
He was also a successful businessman having installed fibre optic cable in many Melbourne buildings including the Melbourne World Trade Centre, Scienceworks and the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he was treated.
He also ran Boat Pieces, a marine chandlery business in East Gippsland.
“Pop had five children and eight grandchildren, who all loved him very much,” said Emily, 19, who aims to raise $5000 for the Leukaemia Foundation as part of The World’s Greatest Shave which supports research into leukaemia.
She is half way there and now has a team of year 11 students from her old school, Upper Yarra Secondary College, helping her to reach her target and helping to raise awareness of the disease and of the need for more research to help find a cure.
The date of her shave is 15 March and donations and sponsorship can be made at my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/emilybarrand.
Alternatively, anyone who can help with fundraising is asked to phone Emily on 0427 535 311.
