A FASHION-conscious teenager is to “sacrifice his one true love” by having his carefully styled hair shaved off to raise money for a cancer charity which helped his mum and grandad.

Sparky McIlwain said his mum Dawn’s diagnosis of kidney cancer in late 2010, when she was aged 46, was “the worst piece of news I could have been given”.

The 18-year-old and his family were then struck with a second blow when, just after Dawn had recovered, her stepfather John Cox was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“He was not so lucky and the illness beat him,” said Sparky’s brother Zoran Zoric, 25, of Coneygear Road, Huntingdon.

He added: “My little brother, who many would know as the most vain 18-year-old in Huntingdon, has decided that he is going to sacrifice his one true love, which is of course his hair, for Macmillan Cancer Relief, without whom we could not have got through my mum’s illness.”

Sparky, who lives with his mum in The Avenue, Huntingdon, said: “Whilst all this was happening Macmillan was always there for my mum if she needed anyone.”

Sparky’s hair will be shaved off at Saints nightclub, in St Ives, at 8.30pm on February 22. The shaving will be performed by his brother and the clippers will be donated by Enisz Men’s Room in Huntingdon.

Saints has agreed to match every pound donated to the cause.

INFORMATION: To donate, visit the website www.justgiving.com/Sparky-Mcilwain