The Great British Beard Off!

The time has come for me to become a mere mortal again. Yep, that’s right, I am to become my baby faced former self by shaving my mighty beard off!!! I know LOADS of you have been itching for a chance to get your hands or scissors to my face furniture and now here’s your chance.

I am raising funds for my little super hero April Karmazyn-Wall. She spent the first 7 months of her life in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the RVI and has been a repeat customer ever since.



April was born with a pulmonary atresia with small right ventricle, cleft palate, choanal stenosis (narrowing of passageway between nose and throat), hypoplastic kidneys (underdeveloped unusually small kidneys) and also liver failure. At only a few days old April had to have CPR to save her life and doctors thought she had necrotising entrocolitis. This is when the bowel starts dying and as a result she had 4 surgeries to remove most of her large bowel and create an ileostomy (sometimes known as a stoma bag). During her time in hospital April had open heart surgery to place a 3 mm BT shunt and also had a tracheotomy procedure as doctors were unable to wean ventilation. Her parents, Nadia and Scott were told a few times she only had a 50/50 chance of survival. Following her surgeries April was diagnosed with Emanuel Syndrome (ES). The chances are you’ve never heard of ES before, that’s because it’s extremely rare and there are only 500 people worldwide known to have ES. Her symptoms include weak muscle tone, failure to gain weight and grow at the expected rate and her development is significantly delayed. April is directly fed into her stomach and until last month hadn’t took a breath unaided until her tracheostomy was removed.

April is now 2 and a half, and as a result of all of this needs 24 hour care, provided by her mammy Nadia, who became her full time carer instead of returning to work after her pregnancy. Normal things that we take for granted already need adapting and as April grows this becomes ever more important. A specially modified bed, supportive seating in the bathroom, transport for her to get around and a wheelchair are just some of the costly but necessary things needed for April to be comfortable and mobile.



April is such a special, happy little girl who is stronger than most people I have ever met and especially stronger than my godly beard. So if you want to rid the world of ZZ Tops fourth member and help my brave little person in doing so, please donate what you can.



The main event will happen on Saturday 18th July 5pm at Newcastle Hair and Beauty Clinic, 52 Northumberland Street, Newcastle, NE1 7DF.  So get yourself down to be part of the action and witness the beard ceremony.

If you can’t make it on the day but still want to do your bit, please donate via this page.

You can also like and share our Facebook page by going to https://m.facebook.com/greatbritishbeardoff and spreading the word!

Thanks for your support, peace out. Kenny