Dunbeg woman rises to charity hair challenge
How would you cope with hair over three feet long, and then losing it? writes Sandy Neil
One young woman from Dunbeg is facing the challenge and having her 42-inch locks cut this month for a charity making wigs for cancer sufferers.
Romana Georgeson, who has autism, is fundraising for the Macmillan cancer support charity, and is donating her hair – which stretches down to her mid-thighs - to the Little Princess Trust, another charity providing wigs for children suffering from cancer.
‘At least someone will be walking about with Romana’s hair,’ her mum Susan Rayns said.
The 20-year-old from Dunbeg, known as Romy, last had her hair cut four years ago when she was at high school, and has visited the hairdresser probably only five times in her life.
Susan said Romy’s idea took her by surprise: ‘Usually people with autism do not like change, so I was really shocked. She sent it in a text. I said to her: “Are you sure? Why?” Members of their family had suffered from cancer, she explained, including Romy’s dog and ‘best friend’ Murphy, who has now recovered. ‘The two are inseparable,’ Susan said.
Currently Romana has to wash her hair three times a week and is looking forward to having it shorter, to probably just below her shoulders.
‘It does get in the way of eating,’ Susan said: ‘When it is windy is blows all over the place.’
Romana is booked into Spruce hairdressers in Oban on Monday August 27, and there are sponsor forms in the Lorne Bar, Aulays, the Tartan Tavern, Coasters, Tesco café, and the village shops in Dunbeg and Connel. A JustGiving page is also being set up, called Romy’s Hair Challenge.