A BRAVE flight attendant has raised almost £3,000 for the charity that helped her more than she ever thought she would need.

Chelley Pinchard, from Holborn Place, was just 34 when she found out that she had a tumour on the speech and language part of her brain, meaning brain surgery while she was awake, as the Press reported in December.

It was an incredibly difficult time for Chelley and she turned to groups to look for support. It was then that she was connected with The Brain Tumour Charity, who helped her apply for the benefits she was entitled to, connected her with counselling and fundraising and even sent her a card after her surgery!

To give back to the charity that helped her through it all, she organised a fundraiser, Shave for Chelley, at Dunfermline's Old Inn, on Friday, December 2.

She told the Press: "We raised £2,938, we smashed the £1,000 target. It was for The Brain Tumour Charity who have helped me in more ways than I ever thought I needed. The pub has now selected this charity as their chosen charity and will have donation boxes on the bar very soon."

Her friends and ex-colleagues at the pub, located on Kirkgate; Laura Crosbie, Callum Blackhall, Craig Birrell, Dennis Hamilton and Gordon Mitchell, all braved the shave while Gregor Neil, the pub manager, also had to shave off his beard after they surpassed their fundraising goal.

She continued: "We had Evie Wragg come up from the charity to see us in person so we could thank her for all her help in getting us set up for the fundraiser, she sent some merchandise and support through it all. She’s amazing.

"A massive thank you to all involved behind the scenes, to everyone who donated, donated prizes for the raffle and who came to the event. Special thanks to the ones who shaved their heads and there was also a few unplanned shaves from some of the regulars which was an amazing effort."

She also praised the efforts of Gregor and Mariam Ahmaz, who were instrumental in setting up the charity fundraiser.

Chelley chose to share her story with the Press in December last year, she wanted to raise awareness and make sure that people pushed to get the care that they needed.

At that time, she said: "I went for an ECG, a tilt table test and then I was referred to the neurology department. He immediately said, 'You've got epilepsy' but I said, 'You've not touched me, you've not tested me and I'm not happy about it.'

"He booked me in for an MRI and here we are. The first one showed, on my frontal left lobe, a low-grade, grade two glioma.

"I'm so glad I did that, otherwise I would have just been given medication to control my 'seizures' which was apparently a growth period for the tumour and was essentially why I fainted.

"If you've got a gut instinct, follow it, go for it and get it checked."