I have faced many challenging tasks in my life, but nothing was as excruciating as being asked by my mum, as she lay in a hospital bed this week, to cut her hair that is falling out because of the chemotherapy she is receiving.
My Pakistani mum, who has a blood cancer called follicular lymphoma, is 76 but has never cut her hair in her life.
That is no exaggeration. Like many women of her culture, generation and heritage, her hair is her identity.
