A thoughtful schoolgirl from Stapenhill has had a massive 18 inches cut off her hair for charity. Eight-year-old Grace-Mae, who attends River view Primary School and Nursery School, said she was “happy” after knowing her lovely long locks had been donated to the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides real hair wigs for children who suffer with cancer.
Grace-Mae, who has never had more than a trim, decided to take the chop after seeing a video of somebody else donating their hair to charity on Facebook.
After questioning her mother, Nicola Stansby, if she could cut her hair too, the 32-year-old was apprehensive.
Ms Stansby said: “It was so lovely and long. But I agreed because that was what she wanted to do.”
The pair went to Mario’s HQ hairdressers, in St Peter’s Street, Stapenhill, where family and friends surrounded Grace-Mae as she made the daring decision on Saturday, July 1.
Hayley Brown, a hairdresser at the salon and a friend of the family, cut Grace-Mae’s hair for free. After carefully plaiting her hair in four braids, Hayley made the first cut, and mum Nicola described Grace-Mae as “grinning like a Cheshire cat”.
Ms Stansby said: “Grace loves her hair, the first thing she did was smile. She was grinning and laughing like mad."
"She’s been growing it out her whole life, she’s been for trims and things like that, but never had a hair cut like this. We’re all so proud of her. She is amazing.”
The family had set up a JustGiving page with a target of £350, the price it costs to make a wig.
However, with many people impressed by Grace-Mae’s compassion and selflessness, the donations exceeded target, and now stand at an amazing £402.
Ms Stansby said: “She’s more than likely going to donate to more charities because we do a lot for charity ourselves, I just think she wanted to do her little bit for charity herself.”
When asked how she feels about her new curls, Gracie-Mae said: “It feels light and I’m happy”.
What is the Little Princess Trust?
As a result of cancer, most children suffer hair loss as a side effect. For many children, this can be extremely upsetting.
The Little Princess Trust work with specialist suppliers and experienced hairdressers who offer wigs tailored to the individual child’s needs to give them the most realistic look and feel as possible – as close to their original hair as they can get.
The charity was launched in 2006 by the parents of Hannah Tarplee. Sadly, she was diagnosed with having a Wilms tumour and after a brave battle, died in 2005.
At that time, finding high quality wigs for children was very difficult. After a long search, a suitable wig was found for Hannah, which she loved very much.
After Hannah passed away, her parents, Wendy and Simon, decided to launch a charity dedicated to providing specialist real hair children’s wigs.
Last year, over £4,500,000 was raised for the charity, meaning over 1,000 free wigs were given to sick children up and down the country.
The charity were also able to fund research into finding causes and cures for paediatric cancer and research focusing on less toxic treatments.
