Zahid chops off his luscious locks for charity

Zahid Saddal has been growing out his luscious locks of hair for exactly three years and nine months! He has decided to take the chop… but for a good cause.

Rather than his standard trip to the barbers, Zahid decided to up the ante by doing a sponsored haircut and donate the proceeds to charity. He decided to raise funds for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham as several members of his family have received care here.

Zahid said: “For the past ten months I have seen more hospital wards than I can count. Last year my grandfather received treatment for a cardiac arrest; my grandmother was in hospital for eight weeks due to severe health problems and sadly passed away. Recently my father received lifesaving surgery after developing a blood clot in the brain, my family and I are truly grateful for everything that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham has done, my experience has always been supportive, compassionate and kind. I wanted to do something to give back to the hospital and so I chose to do a sponsored haircut”

Zahid set himself the target of raising £1,000, which he surpassed. A generous £200 was given by his uncle who gave him the donation under the condition that he had his hair shaved at grade one and remove his beard completely… which he did without hesitation! During his sponsored haircut at Russell’s Barbers in Hall Green, Zahid was also kindly given an additional £100 donation from a customer who was touched by his story.

The grand total of £1,470 that Zahid raised with the help of his family friends and ex-colleagues will go specifically to the neurology and neuroscience department and the wards that helped his family during their stay at QEHB.

Cathryn Worth, Fundraising Manager at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham said: “A huge thank you to Zahid for doing such an amazing thing for Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, the £1,470 raised will go towards providing ‘added extras’ which go over and above what the NHS can afford for patients during their stay at hospital, the new hairdo looks great!”

If you were inspired by Zahid and want to take part in your own charity event please click the following link here.