JUST a few months after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, Annette Wise-Higgs was in the same waiting room with her best friend and worse news was to come.

After the devastating news about her mum, Joan Wise, Ms Wise-Higgs learned that her close friend Julie Lyons had an aggressive form of the same disease.

At The Ladygrove in Didcot on Friday, Ms Wise-Higgs, a mother-of-two, had her shoulder-length hair shaved off as a show of support and to raise money for cancer sufferers.

The 41-year-old, of Saxton Road, Abingdon, said: “Because Julie is on very strong drugs she was told she would definitely lose her hair.

“I thought by having my hair shaved it would be a way of showing support.

“We started this journey together and it’s to show she’s not on her own.”

Since Ms Wise-Higgs started telling people what she was going to do, donations have flooded in.

She has already raised more than £1,200 for Cancer Research and the Jane Ashley Unit at the Churchill Hospital, Headington.

Mrs Lyons was unable to be at the head shave, having started her first chemotherapy treatment the day before at the Jane Ashley Unit.

In her absence, Julie’s daughter, Kylie, 21, made the first cut.

Mother-of-three Mrs Lyons, 48, of Chiltern Close, Berinsfield, said: “Annette has always been there for me, ever since we met about nine years ago at our sons’ football.

“When I was diagnosed it was a total shock, I had a lump on my breast and was told it was cancer.

“In September I had two operations to remove the tumour but some remained and I had the whole breast removed.

She added: “I’m a divorcee and Annette has helped me with things like picking up the shopping.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the head shave because I just started chemotherapy and felt very unwell afterwards, but I’m incredibly proud of Annette, she’s a star.”

Ms Wise-Higgs’s mum, Joan, 66, of Sands Way, Benson, was given the all-clear following a mastectomy at the Churchill Hospital in August, after being diagnosed at the end of May.

She said: “I think Annette is brilliant. It’s been a lot for her to take in and she’s been there from the beginning.

“Julie is also lovely, even after she had been diagnosed she came over with flowers and cakes for me after my operation.”