Bamber Bridge Morrisons boss taking on leg wax in aid of children's cancer charity

Retail manager Dave Paris, of Leyland, has agreed to be waxed by his wife at home if the Bamber Bridge Morrisons store manages to raise £500 for its partner charity CLIC Sargent, which supports children with cancer.

When the charity reached out to the supermarket following a 60% drop in donations during the pandemic, Dave jumped at the chance to help boost its fund-raising. That is because three people in his family have had cancer, including leukaemia, a type which starts in blood-forming tissue, usually the bone marrow.

He said: "When my young nephew was really ill with it, CLIC Sargent did a lot for him. Who could not want to support it?

"My mum also died of cancer at a young age and my wife had leukaemia 15 years ago. She was told to shield during the pandemic so it's a complicated one. Some 20 percent of people with the condition survive, and 20 percent of those make it past five years. So she's way outlived expectations."

Dave says his wife became ill with a mysterious illness that turned out to be a rare type of leukaemia, and deteriorated within just a few days.

"I didn't know much about it nor did I really understand it until she had it," he said.

"She was tired and covered in bruises. Within five days, she was fighting for her life."

Commenting on the illness' severity, he added: "You can be in work on Friday and on death's door on Monday.

"She was put in hospital straight away and spent six months there. During that time, she developed MRSA in her chest twice."

MRSA, also known as meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusm, is a type of bacteria that is resistant to several widely used antibiotics. It does not normally cause any symptoms or make you ill when it is on your skin. But if MRSA gets deeper into the skin, it can cause swelling, pain, pus, redness, a high temperature, chills, aches and pains, dizziness and confusion.

Given everything his partner has been through, the charity means so much to Dave that he says he is thrilled to support it - though he has mixed feelings about being waxed.

"I'm feeling cold but my wife will be absolutely pleased to see me wince in pain," he said.

"The girls at work came up with the idea. To be fair, I've done it in the past. I'm not precious about it. It's the right thing to do so I'm happy to do it and it's being done with the best of intentions."

He added: "I'm lucky that I can support the charities that mean something to me. I have a pay reduction every month in aid of Anthony Nolan [a blood cancer charity]."

Sophie Danson, the store's community champion, is the brains behind the daring fund-raiser.

Sophie, of Bamber Bridge, said: "With everything going on with Covid-19, we had to put all our fund-raising on hold. It was having an impact on the charity, which was losing out.

"The charity offers support from home to children with cancer so that they don't have to go to hospital. I think it's a big issue today."

The 26-year-old, who started the caring role two weeks before lock-down, said: "Morrison's decided to do something online as people don't carry money as often anymore.

"The wax idea popped into my head. I wanted it to be crazy so I was thinking out of the box and wanted it to be a little bit different to grab people's attention. I thought it would be funny if Dave did it. It's something he wouldn't normally do.

"Dave works really hard in the community during the pandemic and has become well-known in the area. He's really brought people together, I think. I keep calling him a pillar of the community. He's been amazing. People walk past him in-store and say, 'You're the famous Dave,' and that they now shop at Morrison's because they feel safe there.

"So I thought it would go down better if he did the wax. He took some convincing though. He's not looking forward to it but he knows it's for a good cause and it means so much to us both."

Sophie has set up a fund-raising page, and charity boxes have been placed on each till to help boost the store's total. And if the team reaches £250, the Morrison's Fund has pledged to match what they raise.

And for the community champion, helping to make a difference to people is all in a day's work.

"My role is to help local schools and charities. I was also helping to feed the homeless earlier this month in town and bought them lots of food. We also deliver shopping to elderly people who can't get out and donate to food banks, which are struggling financially," she said.

"With all the changes to make [during the pandemic], it's been such a difficult time. But it's my job to make people smile and it's given me a purpose."

To make a donation, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sophie-danson?fbclid=IwAR0Cq0jb_VUTqionpzCVEvShHQoLbPFY6YYalzsqx9i3WM8YVXWop1KEBb0