Plait’s Amazing!
Debbie’s girl wanted to help her best mate
‘
Can you trim a bit more?’ I whispered to the stylist. ‘Show me how much you’re cutting!’ my daughter Millie, then 10, cried.
Taking her to the hairdresser’s was always a nightmare.
Millie loved her long, chocolate-brown hair that reached down her back, just like Rapunzel’s.
She hated getting it cut, and didn’t even like me brushing it or putting it in plaits or pigtails.
‘That hurts!’ she’d wince, batting my hands away.
‘It needs a good cut… Then maybe it wouldn’t!’ I’d say.
Millie was a headstrong girl. But never more so than in May last year...
Millie’s best friend at school was Erin, 11. They’d been inseparable since nursery, so me and hubby Andy, 46, were close to her family, too.
But then Erin was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Heartbroken for them all, I steeled myself to tell Millie the bad news about Erin.
Sitting her down, I said, ‘Erin’s poorly. She’s got cancer, but the hospital’s trying to make her better.’
Millie was shaken – but she’s bright... She understood and was really grown-up.
‘I want to help,’ she said. So we started fundraising. With approval from Erin’s mum Katie, I designed wristbands to sell.
Erin had a Facebook page set up in her honour, too.
We promoted fundraising days, cake sales, fun runs. As Erin had chemo, she lost her hair, so funds went towards a long, blonde wig.
She was so brave, always smiling. And, with the chemo over, she went back to school. To begin with, she wore her wig, but then embraced her baldness.
Millie was shocked at first,
So brave
This, from the girl who didn’t even like having a trim!
but, slowly, she realised how brave her friend was.
‘How can I help her?’ she asked me again in February.
‘Hold a cake sale?’ I suggested.
‘Someone’s done that,’ she said.
But, a few days later, she rushed up to me.
‘I know what I want to do to help Erin,’ she said. ‘I want to cut my hair – and get sponsored for it!’ No way!
This, from the girl who didn’t even like her hair trimmed..! I told her to think about it. But Millie was adamant. ‘Have you booked me an appointment?’ she asked every day for a week.
So I made the call. It was booked for 31 March. Millie was over the moon. I set her up a Justgiving page, to help fundraise for the
Little Princess Trust – a charity that provides realhair wigs for kids with cancer.
She told her school, and we shared the page on Facebook.
Happy tears
When the day of the haircut arrived, I was nervous. Millie was only 10… Was she going to change her mind?
By now, Erin’s hair had started growing back spiky.
It looked great, and she was desperate to help cut Millie’s!
The hairdresser plaited Millie’s hair and handed Erin the scissors.
It was so thick – took both her hands to cut through it!
When it was done, Millie burst into tears – and so did I!
I thought she hated it, but it was just nerves and excitement.
‘I never want to be a hairdresser!’ Erin laughed, holding up Millie’s plait.
We measured it. It was 12in long – enough for two wigs – and we’d raised £357!
Meanwhile, Millie was left with swishy shoulder-length locks, and looks fab!
Now leukaemia-free, Erin needs close monitoring. She’ll have chemo for the next two years to make sure the cancer stays away. Millie loves her new hair. I’m so proud of what she did – but nothing compares to how Erin has coped.
They’re a pair of little stars. I know they’ll be friends forever.