Adelaide forward Riley Thilthorpe has seen the effects breast cancer can have on a family firsthand.

His aunty, Gabrielle Mason, passed away in 2015 after a 13-year battle with the disease.

“All through growing up I saw the effect breast cancer has on women,” Thilthorpe said.

“It was pretty tough to watch, especially with her daughter, Alex, who we are really close with.

“She sort of became a second sister (to me) while her mum was undergoing chemo and all the treatments, so I’ve seen first hand the effect it can have and it’s something I’m really passionate about.”

Now, the 22-year-old’s long, luscious beard is set to be shaved next week, in the name of a good cause - Filthy's Fund-Razor.

After six months of growing it, Thilthorpe - with support from the Adelaide Crows Foundation - wants to shave the beard off to help raise funds for the McGrath Foundation.

Former Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath, together with his late wife Jane, established The McGrath Foundation to address a shortage of breast care nurses throughout Australia.

“We’re going to shave it off for the McGrath Foundation,” Thilthorpe said.

“This is a really easy opportunity for me to try and raise some awareness and money for a cause that’s really important to me.”

Thilthorpe has even charged teammate Izak Rankine with chopping the beard off. 

“I am a bit nervous… Nah, he’ll be right,” Thilthorpe laughed.

“Izak has done about three or four of the boys’ haircuts that I’ve seen and he’s done an alright job, so I’ll back him in.

“We’ll definitely play around with it, have a bit of fun. I know Izak loves to have a bit of fun, so we’ll see what he comes up with.”

Thilthorpe has been growing the beard for the past six months and his Mum Claudine was the brainchild behind the idea.

But Thilthorpe admitted he had been thinking of getting rid of it for a while.

“Mum was a big driver of (the beard) and the week after I hurt my knee I just decided I would try and grow one for the first time,” Thilthorpe said.

“I’ve been pretty keen to get rid of it for a while, then I was talking to Mum and she said ‘why don’t you try and raise some money for it?’

“Straight away I thought it was a great idea and I knew exactly what cause I wanted to donate to, so it worked out really well.”

To donate to Filthy's Fund-Razor, click here.