'Big chop' by mum and daughter from Read raises hundreds for charity

Jodie Crosland and her daughter Victoria, who attends Read Primary School, had 15" and 13" cut off their hair respectively. They have donated this to The Little Princess Trust which makes wigs for children with cancer.

Jodie (31), who, ironically, is self employed in the hair extension industry, wanted to raise funds for Burnley NICU -Lancashire’s newborn and women’s centre - after staff there saved the life of her youngest daughter Francesca.

Married to Aron (33), a wagon driver, Jodie suffered gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with Victoria and was subsequently diagnosed with Type One Diabetes in 2010.

An insulin controlled diabetic, Jodie had to undergo an emergency Caesarean section in March with Francesca after her insulin levels fell drastically at 33 weeks.

“It was really scary. When Francesca was born, she wasn’t breathing and barely had a heart beat. It was horrendous, but the staff at the NICU just completely took over and looked after us. They made us feel so calm, ” said Jodie.

Francesca spent two weeks on the hospital’s high dependency unit.

“We just want to say thank you to the Burnley NICU angels, ” said Jodie, who has previously raised money for the charity Diabetes UK after climbing Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

“If we can make anyone’s stay in NICU a little bit better by raising money for the unit that will be great. Even if we just manage to buy the unit some blankets for the babies or maybe a microwave or something for the staff room.”

Jodie, who is well known through her hair extension business Raynebow, which takes part of its name from her middle name Rayne, also has a seven-year-old daughter called Amelia, who attends Read Primary School.

Jodie and Victoria underwent the big chop to celebrate Francesca’s first birthday this month.

“I work in the hair extension industry so I know how important hair can be to a person. All my clients think that I’m crazy doing this when I spend all my time adding hair on to people.

“It was actually Victoria’s idea that we should both cut our hair as she had seen me cut one of my client’s hair for charity. I’m so, so proud of her.”

Jodie has expressed her thanks to Sarah Brown, who owns the salon Sensuous in Padiham, as she cut and styled their hair for free.

"We couldn't have done it without all the wonderful people who shared and donated," added Jodie. "When David Fishwick, who did the Channel 4 programme Bank of Dave, heard that we were going to be losing some of the money due to fees, he offered to basically replace those fees! I do his wife's hair extensions and this meant we smashed our target!"