Jersey woman to cut hair in memory of friend who lost fight with cancer

Monday, 20 April 2026 11:00

Toniie shares her experience of being a young person with cancer on her social media, 'Toniie Rubio'.

Antonia 'Toniie' Rubio, a cancer survivor, is cutting her hair to honour a friend who recently lost his battle with the disease, to raise money and awareness.

Toniie met Alex through CLIC Sargent (Jersey), which is a charity supporting all islanders suffering from cancer under the age of 25, and their families.

After they were both diagnosed with the disease at 23 and 24, they attended sessions held by the charity.

Toniie says having the disease at a young age can bring up different challenges:

"Being at such a young age, there are things that can be misinterpreted.

"They can say it's hormonal or growing pains.

"It's really important that the symptoms are looked at, not an age or a gender."

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She says she is raising money in donations, but the physical hair will also go somewhere.

She will donate her locks to the Little Princess Trust, which is a charity that makes wigs for young children who have lost their hair to cancer:

"When you have cancer, your body changes a lot, and your appearance changes a lot - that can be really difficult.

"When you're gifted something like a wig, that almost feels like a safety blanket because you feel exposed when you look unwell.

"When these charities provide things that make people feel better, that makes such a difference."

The 27-year-old also wishes to raise money for CLIC Sargent (Jersey) to help other families in the island impacted by cancer, both financially and emotionally.

She says there are unexpected costs of being diagnosed with cancer that aren't medical bills:

"There's a lot behind the scenes, even food shopping, sometimes you have to be on a specialised diet, going to the hospital, paying for parking, travelling.

"We don't want the families to have to worry about that financial burden."