Macarthur team braves the shave in honour of loved ones with Wests League Club
Wests Group Macarthur is thrilled to be supporting a local team pledging to cut, colour, and shave
for the fight against blood cancer at a World’s Greatest Shave – Macarthur event to be held at
Wests League Club in March.
Local mother of two and small business owner Melissa Woodward is leading the team for the second
year in a row, having shaved her head in 2021 just weeks after father and family patriarch Wayne
Malone’s passing to Leukaemia. The 2022 team Chopitlikeitshot currently has 10 participants, each
bringing a personal motivation to help free the world from blood cancer.
Blood Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases in Australia with over 18,400 people diagnosed
each day in some form including Leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma, and around 5,700 losing their
fight each year. Melissa shares “In 2020 my Dad was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and
in January 2021 lost his fight as the disease was very aggressive. At the time, we didn’t know what
support was available as Covid put up barriers to accessing services. We worked together as a family
to get him from Tahmoor to Liverpool for appointments and regular visits to drop in food, clean
clothes, and whatever he needed during his hospital stays for chemotherapy”.
Ms. Woodward continues, “We realised that other families don’t have the ability to get their family
members to appointments and therefore rely on the Leukaemia Foundation to provide transport and
accommodation, especially if they live in regional areas”.
This year’s team called Chopitlikeitshot will feature locals Amy Woodley, Jacqui Symonds-Poynton,
Katherine Elizabeth, and Janelle Leggett to shave their heads and a support crew of colourers
including Clair Malone, Kez Morgan, Janet Kingston, and Melissa Woodward. Wests Staff member
Leanne Richmond is stepping up to represent Wests, by colouring her hair, following the passing of
her own father to Leukaemia, and will be joined by her brother Jamie (Shaving) as well as Wests
Group Deputy Chairman and former Councillor, Paul Lake (Colouring).
To further support fundraising efforts, Wests Group will be generously matching donations dollar for dollar (up to $1,000) made directly to Wests staff member Leanne Richmond which will go back to the overall team donation.
The event to be held at Wests League Club on the 18th of March is open to Wests Members and
members of the public with light refreshments on offer in exchange for a gold coin donation.
Attendees are invited to jazz up their hair with some coloured spray for $5 or chop off their ponytail
for $10 with all proceeds on the day being donated back to the Leukaemia Foundation.
On being a venue partner, Wests Group Chairman Alan Buxton comments, “We are pleased to be
able to support and draw attention to the important work of The Leukaemia foundation thus
assisting to fund vital research to help more people survive blood cancers”.4
Interested in supporting? Register your interest to come along to the event on the 18th March and to
shave, cut or colour; purchase a $5 Raffle ticket from Reception at any Wests venue or DONATE to
the team today via http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/chopitlikeitshot
Wests Group believes in empowering the Macarthur community with social support, education, and
donations through the adoption of tailored strategies to ensure the needs of individuals, families and
groups are met.
