A POPULAR Weymouth woman has gone to extreme lengths to raise almost £500 as part of her battle against cancer.

Community leader Jan Hinton was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which came as a complete shock to the 56-year-old and has spurred her on to raise awareness for the disease.

Jan visited Elegance Hair Salon on the Littlemoor precinct, to get her hair dyed in rainbow colours and have it shaved off to stay one step ahead of ongoing chemotherapy treatment.

She said: “I want people to know about ovarian cancer – the only symptoms I had was a pain in my stomach.

“It is very difficult to diagnose and with me it wasn’t picked up at first. Having the rainbow hair do brightened everything up for me.

“I knew having my head shaved would be difficult because I haven’t had short hair since I was 18, but I wanted to do all I can to raise money and awareness.

“I aimed to raise £500 for the two charities in one week last week and am so delighted to have almost reached that target.

“I want to say thank you to all the team at Elegance for their help and support.

“Everyone has been so supportive, for example the other day a lady put £10 sponsorship in my hand.”

Jan has also formed a strong friendship with Gill Harler, a retired teacher from Weymouth, who also has ovarian cancer.

Gill surprised Jan in Elegance hair salon when she turned up to support her through the head shave on Friday.

Now the two ladies are looking to set up a local ovarian cancer support group.

Gill said: “I believe after something bad comes something good, and the good is that Jan is trying her hardest to raise awareness of ovarian cancer alongside raising money for two great charities and very worthy causes.

“Supporting each other is what it’s all about and I think Jan has been so very brave to shave her hair.”

Sponsorship forms for Jan are available in Elegance Hair Salon and the St Francis Church in Littlemoor.

To sponsor Jan online visit www.justgiving.com/JanHinton.

Money raised will go towards the Fortuneswell Cancer Trust and Weldmar Hospice.