A CANCER sufferer who inspired pub-goers to shave their heads as he started his chemotherapy treatment has handed over a £3,400 cheque to Oxford’s cancer hospital.

When doctors told builder Frank Thorne, 50, of Allnatt Avenue, Wallingford, that the treatment for his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma would cause him to lose his hair, his brother-in-law Keith Pearson, 57, vowed to get his hair shaved off at the same time.

The pair arranged to submit to the clippers in Mr Thorne’s local pubs, The Green Tree and The Dolphin in Wallingford, in June, hoping to raise a few hundred pounds for the Churchill Hospital in Headington.

But, when 40 friends and family turned up to watch and pub regulars entered into the spirit of the occasion, more people volunteered to have their heads shaved as well, raising a total of £3,416 for the cancer unit.

Mr Thorne said: “Originally, we just got a few people to sponsor us and it just carried on and on.

“We had half our heads shaved in The Green Tree, so I looked like a monk, and then carried on to The Dolphin. Then, a couple of young lads said that if we got together £120 in five minutes, they would have their heads shaved too.

“Then two or three more said they would do it, and one guy had his beard shaved off for £20.”

He said: “It was just the spirit of everyone in the town.

“Even when we were walking through town, people were putting £10 notes in the collecting bucket.

“The attitude of everybody was just fantastic, and everyone was so generous.”

Mr Thorne finished his bout of chemotherapy recently.

He said: “It makes you feel rough, and like you do not have your own stomach. You do not feel right inside. When I climb a flight of stairs at the hospital, I am completely puffed out at the top, because I have so little energy.”

He said: “I am still as bald as a coot, but the hair is just starting to pop its head through. It is lily-white, and I’m just hoping it is not going to come back pure white.”

Sister Carol Pearson, 59, said: “The treatment he has got at the Churchill Hospital has been fantastic. We wanted to raise money to help other people who find themselves in the same situation as Frank, but the way the community entered into it was unbelievable.”