Didlock Family Did Well! At Alopecia UK, we are grateful to everyone who takes the time and effort to do some fundraising for Alopecia UK. We're delighted to receive all amounts, however big or small, but occasionally an amount is raised that blows us away! Jamie Didlock, along with husband Tom, raised a staggering £10,394 for Alopecia UK - the biggest sum raised by one family for Alopecia UK! We had a chat with Jamie about how it all came about... Firstly tell us about Erin, the inspiration for your fundraising for Alopecia UK "Erin has always had bad skin and had lots of illnesses since she was born, seeming to catch everything and anything! She then started losing clumps of her hair when she was 3 years old, eventually losing it all shortly after. It's been so difficult for us as a family and I just wish it was me and not my little girl. She has dealt with it fantastically well and we make a point of never getting upset in front of her. We just want to be positive around her and for her to know that she's fabulous with or without hair!" Why was it important to raise funds for Alopecia UK? "We decided to raise money as I found out that Alopecia UK was such a small charity with limited funding. I don't feel that there is enough support, help or treatment so I wanted us to do our bit to hopefully enable Alopecia UK to do more. We're also really keen to see more research into alopecia and we know that Alopecia UK has recently been able to start funding research projects." You've raised a truly staggering amount for Alopecia UK. How did you manage to raise over £10,000? "We decided to host a small charity event but it just escalated into such a big one! Firstly, we set up an online Justgiving page telling a little of Erin's journey and donations flooded in on the page raising over £2,000. Our family fun day at Thornton Cleveleys Football Club was then a tremendous success. We've been really lucky to have massive support from our local paper, the Blackpool Gazette and so much help from family and friends. We had such a fabulous day. I do nails and beauty and my clients have been incredibly generous, even doing their own little bit of fundraising towards our efforts, such as afternoon tea and one little girl had her hair cut . We've been truly blown away by the amount of support we've received. In addition, we found out that DPD (who my husband works) operate a 'Matched Funding' policy providing additional funds to charities being supported by their employees. We made an application and were delighted when they agreed to match the funds we'd raised, taking our grand total to £10,394 for Alopecia UK." Thank you so much Jamie. It really is an amazing achievement! Is there anyone you'd like to thank? "We just want to thank EVERYONE who helped us, either on the day of the event or who donating on our Justgiving page, or donating prizes or even just sharing details of our fundraising event. We hope the money raised will make a difference and perhaps even help to find some answers about what is such a mysterious condition." A huge thank you to the Didlock family for their fundraising efforts. The money they have raised will help us to continue the work we do to improve the lives of those affected by alopecia through our aims of Support, Awareness and Research. Remember, fundraising can be big or small. Whether you're able to raise £50 or £500, it's all gratefully received and put to good use. You can find out more about fundraising for Alopecia UK here.