After chemo, teen given pal’s hair for prom
FAIRFIELD, Pa. – Alyssa White never envisioned a prom like this, but friendship is a powerful thing.
Back in January, the 16-year-old Fairfield High School student was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As a side effect of the chemotherapy treatment, she lost her long, brown hair.
But on a recent Friday, White rocked a styled updo and felt “absolutely beautiful.”
The hair came from her friend and former summer camp counselor, Ashley Smith, who donated 24 inches of hair in March to have a wig custom made in time for White’s prom.
“It looks exactly how my hair looked,” White said.
The bubbly teenager spent her week getting ready with makeup, nails and getting her wig styled at The Spa on West Main in Westminster, the same location where Smith had her hair chopped off.
The owner of the spa, Dawn DeMario, also operates a Westminster women’s clothing store, LUX Boutique, and donated a dress to White after hearing her story.
White picked out a dusty pink dress at the store to wear for her prom.
“I think I look beautiful,” White said. “I love seeing everything put together. The dress is fantastic. The wig— they did a fantastic job on it, and I just feel like a princess.”
After taking prom photos at a friend’s house, White met up with Smith at Lincoln Square in Gettysburg.
“Look at your hair, Ashley!” White said, referring to her wig.
The sight made Smith emotional. She described a strange sensation when she finally received the wig, made of her hair, in the mail.
“Just to hold my hair, oh my God, it was crazy,” she said. “It was the weirdest feeling ever, but it’s so cool, and she looks so good, and I’m just really glad that it turned out to look as natural as it does.”
Smith, 29, raised $3,000 on YouCaring.com to have the wig made through an online company called Caring and Comfort, which allowed White to customize the length and color.
The YouCaring page is still raising money for White’s medical expenses.
White felt “blessed” to have Smith in her life as well as the others who have supported her since her diagnosis.
The whole journey has made Smith feel like a better person.
“It didn’t take anything to do it, and then to see how much love and support we have from so many people, even people we don’t know, I think that it’s like opened me up to realize that there really are still good people,” she said.
White completed her last cycle of chemotherapy on April 18 and started radiation this month.
She described her cancer as “a bump in the road.”
“Moments like this just make it worth it because, even though I have some bad days and everything, I have the good ones,” White said.
White, sporting a meticulously styled coif, shared a hug with her friend, whose hair was about two feet longer a little over a month ago.
Friday was a good one.