Launceston General Hospital staff participate in World's Greatest Shave

Emergency department nurse Sonia Bilich and hospital aide Christine Kleiner are shaving their heads, while support officer Martin Chirichiello is shaving off his beloved beard, for the World’s Greatest Shave on June 30.

Ms Bilich has grown her ginger locks long enough to be able to donate them for wigs for leukaemia patients.

“I’ve had a couple of friends who were personally affected by leukaemia and I’ve had close people affected by cancer,” she said.

“And we see a lot of chemo patients come through here.”

Ms Bilich’s hair was 75 centimetres long on last measurement, and she will be auctioning off the first couple of plait cuts during the shave.

The shave falls on Mr Chirichiello’s birthday. While he’s not that keen to lose his rugged facial hair, he’s bowing to peer pressure from colleagues, and is happy to be raising money for a good cause at the same time.

Ms Kleiner said she had not personally been touched by leukaemia, but that both her parents passed away from cancer.

“That was really tough,” she said. “There are boxes around the hospital that people can donate to.”