Co Tyrone man Seamus Russell first started to raise money for local charities following the death of his good friend Vincent Gormley to cancer in his early 20s.
That was almost 30 years ago, and now the well-known Carrickmore man has raised more than £100,000 for local groups, mostly through a collection of wild and wacky haircuts he has assembled over the years.
While he has fundraised for several charities in the last three decades, much of his funds have gone towards the Termonmaguirc Cancer Patients Comfort Fund, which supports cancer patients in the wider Carrickmore area.
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Seamus says his mohawk and mullet days may be done, but he has always been glad to help.
“A friend of mine Vincent Gormley died in his early 20s and I just said to myself that I wanted to do something for charity to remember him,” Seamus said.
“I don’t know what has kept me going to do it for so long but if your heart is in it you won’t go too far wrong.
“As soon as the money goes to the Termonmaguirc Cancer fund it goes straight to the people that need it.
“They would be well known around the parish here and help a lot of people, so any wee bit I could do to help them I wanted to.”
Seamus adds that the six figure sum wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the support of all those who donated to his hair raising fundraisers over the years.
“I did my last one last year and we got almost £10,000, I came out of retirement for it!,” Seamus says.
“They’re a very generous bunch here in Carrickmore and I couldn’t thank them enough for that support.
“We’re a very close community here and there’s not many people who don’t know someone affected by cancer, so they’re very appreciated for the work that they do. It’s been a pleasure to do whatever wee bit I could to help.”
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