Calendar girls hoping to raise more than eyebrows!

Friday 27 November 2015

Jersey’s very own 'calendar girls' have hit the shelves and the stars are hoping to raise thousands to help Islanders with breast cancer.

Susie Hazlewood, the mum-of-three who bared all after a mastectomy, got all her friends stripping off for After Breast Cancer Jersey - the charity that helped her get through her treatment.

Susie, who's own mum died of the disease at the age of 51, was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer last August and found out after the mastectomy that the cancer was also in her lymph nodes.

She has since undergone chemotherapy when her hair fell out and 15 lots of radiotherapy and is now waiting to have breast reconstruction.

In the meantime she's been busy raising funds and awareness for After Breast Cancer Jersey. Her photo went viral and was shared over 60,000 times on Facebook during Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. It even made it onto the pages of the Daily Mirror and now she hopes the pictures of her and her closest friends who all supported her through her treatment will raise more than eyebrows!

She says the support she got from the charity during her treatment was fantastic. They helped her out at home with the jobs she struggled to do when she was sick like cleaning and ironing and they helped pay for her fly home from Southampton at weekends so that she could see her three boys during her radiotherapy sessions.

Her friend Sue Sheldon came up with the idea of making a calendar and last month joined Susie, Jan Spence, Donna Dwyer, Caroline Rees-Barrington, Kat Le Quesne, Angie Fairley, Sue Townsend, Carol Cooper, and Amanda Lucas for the big shoot at Steve Wellum’s photography studio.

Susie is delighted with the calendar which has gone on sale around the Island and thinks it will make a great stocking filler!

She said: "It's really fabulous, I'm so very happy with it. All the girls look outstanding I'm so very proud of them all . What a brilliant calendar it is. The photos are just the best thanks to Steve Wellum and Mailmate Print have done a wonderful job with putting it all together. I'm so thrilled."

Susie got the support of many local businesses who were keen to sponsor a month and Steve Wellum offered to do all the photos for free so all the money raised from the 2,000 calendars that have been printed will go straight to the charity.

You can pick up a copy of the calendar for £10 from Steve Wellum Photography, Jersey Post, both in Broad Street and Rue Des Pres, Feel Unique in King Street, Les Quennevais and Longueville, WH Smith, De Gruchy and from Motor Mall.

(Picture credits: Steve Wellum Photography)