There’s no doubt the classmates of Trinity Anglican College’s Hunter McBurnie were rattled when they were told the year five student had been diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma in August last year.

Hunter hasn’t been able to attend classes in person since the diagnosis, but he still makes sure to check in as often as he can, either from home or hospital.

Between radiation therapy, chemotherapy and a recent bone marrow transplant, the young man has been doing it tough – but his classmates are doing all they can to rally around him.

When the idea to host a Shave for A Cure to raise some money for the Leukaemia Foundation was floated by teacher Megan Craig, she had no idea Hunter’s classmates would respond the way they have.

More than 20 of them have signed up to shave their heads on Friday June 22, but even more have jumped on the fundraising bandwagon.

After initially hoping to raise somewhere in the vicinity of three or four thousand dollars, more than 50 Trinity students have joined the fundraising effort.

At the time of writing, Trinity Team Hunter has raised a shade over $17,000.

The team has revised their fundraising goal a number of times since starting their campaign.

“We had students going around raising money at home, one even had a bake sale in their neighbourhood,” Mrs Craig said.

“It hasn’t just been year five students either.

“Hunter’s family and friends raised about $16,000 when they did a shave event back in March, and initially I’d hoped we’d be able to get their total figure up to the $20,000 mark.

“It’s been a really good way for us to show our support.” 

While the campaign has been fun, Mrs Craig acknowledged there had been some tough lessons the students had been asked to tackle along the way.

“I think it has been a little bit confronting for some of the students,” she said.

“We’ve had conversations about cancer, they’re aware of it – many of them have had family members go through it as well.” 

The World’s Greatest Shave has so far raised just over $16 million in 2018 for the Leukaemia Foundation.

The money goes towards a variety of services provided by the foundation, including accommodation, education, practical and emotional support, transport service, grief services and many other resources.

Coincidentally, 2018 marks the 20^th year of the World’s Greatest Shave, which launched in 1998. 

The Leukaemia Foundation was formed in 1975, by Brisbane clinical haematologist, Dr Trevor Olsen, and went on to have contact with half of all patients diagnosed.