WHY VICKII CORNBOROUGH IS BRAVING THE SHAVE FOR "INSPIRATIONAL" SISTER SAM

It was the week before Vickii Cornborough gave birth to twins that her sister, Sam, was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

To combat her aggressive form of the disease in the months that have followed, Sam has had to stop breastfeeding her son, Jackson, in order to undergo a mastectomy and began chemotherapy treatment in early December. 

Cornborough has watched on as her sister has begun treatment, stopped work and continued to parent Evie, 4, and Jackson, 1. 

Due to her own commitments, Cornborough has been unable to be as hands on as she would like. 

It was only when considering in what way she could offer support that Cornborough decided that she was going to Brave The Shave. 

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With Sam beginning to lose her hair after three sessions of chemotherapy treatment, through shaving her own head Cornborough hopes that sign of solidarity will also help normalise things for her niece. 

She is donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust, who will make wigs for children and young people who have lost their hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. 

Funds are also being raised for Rugby Against Cancer, who have been supporting Sam, and Macmillan Cancer Support, who have helped to arrange childcare and offered advice on how to navigate day-to-day life as change continues. 

“The whole Brave the Shave piece came a few weeks afterwards when I was like ‘what can I actually do to help?’,” Cornborough said.  

“I can be about to help with her mood, but I am quite an active person and I like to get heavily involved, but I can only do so much with twins.  

“I did think ‘what would I want in her shoes?’, and me and Sam are very similar, but different in that she is a lot more caring of other people. 

“Sam thinks about everyone else before thinking of herself, so I was like ‘what can I do for Sam to show that I am supporting her in and amongst all the other things everyone else is doing?’.  

“Our long hair has been our identity for years and years, we have always had long hair that’s brown with lots of blonde in it and we really identify with that long hair. 

“When I told my sister, she started crying and said, ‘you really don’t have to go through with it’ and I said I wanted to, we could do it together and it is just hair, it will grow back and all the things we have all been saying to Sam, I have been saying to myself as well; it is just hair.  

“It is not the end of the world, and you are not defined by your hair.  

“If it is something I can do for Sam to make things a little less scary and we can laugh and joke about being eggheads together, if I can make it just that little bit easier for her, it is no skin off my nose to do it and hair will grow back.  

“What’s more important is that her treatment is successful.” 

So far Cornborough has been overwhelmed by the amount of support shown to her by the rugby community. 

It is a sport that has bound the two for much of their lives, having started to play the game at Portsmouth RFC and representing Harlequins together. 

The 33-year-old credits Sam with being the reason she has represented the Red Roses on numerous occasions, having ‘blazed a trail’ thanks to her own efforts on the pitch. 

“My sister is not only a mentor to me, she is such an inspiring person and has been the whole way through growing up,” Cornborough said. 

“Especially from a rugby perspective. She did England Under-19s, she went through the system before me, blazed that trail and cut down all those barriers. 

“It was like; if my sister can do it, I can do it as well. She gave me the confidence to believe in myself, that I could represent my country. 

“We played age group rugby together sometimes, but she was always three years ahead of me, so we didn’t get to play together much. 

“To get the opportunity to play for Harlequins was absolutely amazing and our life is rugby. 

“You don’t get up to 75 caps for your country without a massive family support behind you and my sister was at the forefront of that. 

“She has always been my biggest and loudest supporter. It is the least I can do to support her in her time of need.” 

Throughout her journey, Sam has been updating people on her treatment via social media. 

One of the key messages throughout is the importance to check for lumps regularly as a higher proportion of cancers are diagnosed by the NHS. 

“Sam being able to share her journey, it is something that I would be too scared to do,” Cornborough said.  

“It is just pushing out that message of ‘you need to talk about it more, raise that awareness and if you can make it that little bit less scary for people, then that is definitely a good thing’ and the more awareness and funds we can raise for research into what is such a horrible disease, it can only be a good thing.” 

To donate visit Vickii's JustGiving page, click here.