Brock's women's rugby team raised more than $1,100 during Shave for the Brave, which resulted in Badger teammate Katie Faust shaving off and donating 23 inches of her hair to cancer patients.

Taylor Ward is gone, but her Brock University rugby teammates have made sure she won’t be forgotten.

The team raised more than $1,100 during Shave for the Brave, which resulted in Badger teammate Katie Faust shaving off and donating 23 inches of her hair to cancer patients.

Ward died Sept. 7, 2013 – the team’s first match of the season – after an 11-month battle with leukemia.

Faust’s red hair is slowly growing back after teammates shaved it in February.

After several months with only $100 raised, the team surpassed its goal of $1,000.

“They (teammates) were really proud of me, but I’m just as proud of them because our rookies this year didn’t get the chance to know Taylor,” said Faust, a third-year Sport Management student. “For them to come in and step up and be the great group of rookies they were, it was amazing. For our veterans to be as strong as they were throughout the entire thing, it was unbelievable. It really brought everyone together.”

It was the second time in four years Faust, 21, shaved her head to honour a cancer victim.

Ward, though, was more than a friend.

She was a teammate – one whose memory inspired the Badgers throughout their difficult season.

“I thought I could do something to let people know that … Taylor lost her battle,” Faust said, “but the war against cancer is still raging.”