What do you do when the owner of your beauty salon is dying? You stage a benefit, of course.

Sharon Perry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, right after she opened the successful Canyon Salon at its new location in Westlake Village. Having run the salon in the TJ Maxx plaza at Lindero Canyon Boulevard for many years before that, Perry is a celebrated businesswoman in the Conejo Valley who had created a community of stylists and satisfied customers and was well-known for her professionalism and service.

Stylist Shannon Whiteside shares a bit about the salon on her blog, The Color Stylist. “Sharon Perry, a legend in hair styling, had built the most amazing salon I had ever seen, The Canyon Salon, and was bringing together the most talented group of stylists I had ever seen..The Canyon Salon has provided a spectacular environment for me to express my art. My life is filled with happy laughing clients, who leave each day, looking more radiant than when they arrived.”

Now being run by Perry’s two nieces, the Canyon Salon has been long been planning this day of fundraising for the Hirschberg Foundation, which supports research into curing pancreatic cancer, to take place on May 6. Sadly, their inspiration, Sharon Perry herself, is at the tail end of her battle with the disease, and hanging on to life by a thread. Perry may not even live to the end of this week, let alone to see how well the fundraiser does.

Still, the team at the Canyon Salon is accepting donations and offering cut rate services on Sunday, May 6 from 12 – 6pm, as a tribute to their beloved Perry, and something positive they can do together with the community in her honor, and soon, in her memory.