AN amateur rugby league player who had not cut his hair for more than two years in memory of a dead pal, has finally shed his straggly shoulder-length locks to support a teenage cancer sufferer.

Nineteen-year-old Shaun Hudson is now sporting a cropped head of hair after choosing to raise money for Whiston Hospital, where leukaemia patient Ian Slater has received treatment. His gesture is set to raise �1,000 for the G5 ward where Ian stayed for several months.

Ian is now back at home in Rainford after undergoing a bone marrow transplant for which his twin brother Tom acted as a donor.

And the courageous twins - who are also rugby players - were on hand to do the honours when Shaun went under the dubbers at the Haresfinch rugby league club's 7-a-side tournament.

It was a big decision for Shaun to shed his distinctive hairstyle because he started to let it grow in 2004 when his friend, Gareth Orchard died in tragic circumstances.

Gareth was known for his long hair and Shaun and a few other mates vowed to let their hair grow in his memory. Despite others having their locks trimmed, Shaun had loyally stuck by his pledge.

Now the Haresfinch' open-age squad hooker has a new look. He said: "We put my hair in two ponytails and Ian and Tom then chopped each one off before a hairdresser came and tidied it up. I'm chuffed we've managed to raise so much money."

His girlfriend Kirsty, who is pals with Ian and Tom, said the twins' efforts in squaring up to the cancer ordeal had proved inspirational to many of the town's teenagers.

The friends also want the funds to go to G5 because it was there that Barrie John Maleedy, the brave Cowley pupil who sadly passed away this year after a battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, was given treatment.