There's just no stopping Sue Flannery's drive to fundraise for the Cancer Council - not even a global pandemic.
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Dungog's annual Relay for Life event due to be held last weekend was cancelled due to COVID-19 but the fundraising for cancer research continues.
"Our theme for relay this year was 'Connections' and we can all still stay connected but in a different way," said Lyn Moseley from the organising committee.
"Keeping the support going is something positive we can do at the moment and remember those in our community and their carers who are on cancer journeys who are still having to travel to treatments at this time."
The relay is a popular event in Dungog. Last year the Dungog Shire Relay for Life team took home the regional award for community trust and the state award for the highest percentage of carers and survivors taking part.
Clarence Town's Sue Flannery had planned to have her head shaved at the relay over the weekend.
Instead of a cheering crowd at Barnes Oval, Sue still had plenty of moral support as she lost her locks at her home on a chilly Saturday afternoon.
Her granddaughter-in-law Alivia Flannery who wielded the clippers was one of just a very few people at the event.
But hundreds more watched from their own homes as the shave was live-streamed on Facebook.
"Keep donating everyone, we've got to beat this thing," said Sue during the shave.
"The Coronavirus will come and go but cancer has been around for a long time.
"It claims too many lives."
Sue, the Dungog Shire Citizen of the Year for 2019, has lost many family members as a result of cancer.
She has lost her husband from melanoma, her mother from bowel cancer, along with a 36-year-old cousin from the same disease and her mother-in-law from multiple myeloma.
"I can regrow my hair, but I can't regrow their lives," she said.
"So if raising money in this way can help prevent families from grief, this is a small offering on my part."
People can still support Sue and her fundraising effort.
Donations for relay can be taken until April 28.
Did you know $6500 from the money raised by Dungog Shire Relay for Life comes straight back to the shire?
The money is used to fund the free transport to treatment provided by the Dungog Shire Palliative Care Volunteers. Visit www.relayforlife.org.au and search for Dungog Shire Relay for Life to make a donation.
The relay's major raffle was drawn live on Radio Dungog on Sunday morning. Major raffle winners were: first - Pauline Aboody; second - Tracey Ryan and third - Trevor Andrews.
