Over that time he's gotten used to long looks and dropped jaws, and has even accessorised the 'swiss-army knife' dreads with a bottle opener, bread tag and many other useful accoutrements.

But his own private health battles, and those of his late-friend Braedon Hensel, have inspired the 29-year-old to shed his long locks to raise money for the Albury-Wodonga Cancer Centre.

Mr Moore was diagnosed with a tumour in his hip when he was just 15-years-old, and despite being benign the tumour has progressively eroded his hip bone, meaning he permanently uses crutches.

"It's a rare tumour and it couldn't be treated in the [Albury-Wodonga] Cancer Centre back then so I had to make weekly or monthly seven-hour round trips to the Peter Mac Cancer Centre for treatment or scans," he said.

"As a result I've always had pretty big appreciation for oncologists and everyone else... and of what means have cancer centre in Albury. It's a great hub that saves people from having to travel."

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Mr Moore said most recently his disease culminated in a six-week radiation treatment at Peter Mac in 2020.

He said travelling to Melbourne during the COVID outbreak added stress and really hit home how important local services were.

Mr Moore said having to travel for treatment as a young person greatly impacted him.

"It was huge, it's not just draining on time - as young person trying maintain full-time work it was hard constantly be asking employer for time off - but the biggest drain was on energy," he said.

"You're fighting a battle for your health and you're fighting to stay mentally positive.

"Then you have a lot of time [on the drive] to sit and think, there are a lot of mental demons you battle with.

"So having a cancer centre here in Albury means now I can do treatment here, get back to work and best of all I can be around family and friends.

"That's what I'm relived about, I am saving energy for fight that I need and my support network is there for every step."

Mr Moore said he was also inspired by Braedon Hensel and his mother Michelle who is a great advocate for the cancer centre.

"Braedon was a year older than me in school and he lost his life to cancer that came back recurrently," he said.

"He was first [cancer case] I was first touched by.

"He visited me when I down in Melbourne getting treatment. I remember he'd just had his first round chemo and he dragged himself out of bed and came in to see me when he was the one in wars."

Over the years, Mr Moore's dreadlocks have become a big part of his identity, but on the eve of his 30^th birthday he decided it was time to 'grow up' and shave his head.

"It'll be bizarre, I haven't had to put sunscreen on my head for best part of 10 years and I can't remember what feels like wear a hat because I haven't found one that'll fit over the dreads," he said.

But Mr Moore isn't the only one in for a surprise.

His partner and many of his friends have never seen him without his dreadlocks.

"It's just hair but it has become a big part of me but [shaving it] doesn't phase me," he said.

"I look forward to crutching down the street and having to reintroduce myself to people who don't recognise me."

As well as being a great talking point, the dreadlocks have also allowed Mr Moore to brush off comments about why he's on crutches.

"I'm pretty private about why I'm on crutches, I like to hide behind the dreadlocks and joke about it happening as a skateboarding injury," he said.

"I brush it off, only those closely around me know I have a degenerating condition and won't be getting of crutches."

Mr Moore said the response since he shared his story on Facebook and announced his fundraising goal, has been overwhelming.

"I've been blown away by the support so far," he said.

"Obviously everyone has been touched by cancer in some way, shape or form and I'm sure there are a lot people out there pretty keen to see what my heads look like without my dreads."

Mr Moore wants to raise $5000 for the cancer centre by his shave date of March 5.

To donate visit: https://give.awcancertrust.org.au/fundraisers/jacobmoore/

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