Bad Hairless Days

Hello!!

After two years my husband and I had enough hair to donate to Locks of Love, an organization that provides wigs for children who lose their hair due to medical diagnosis'.

Back in the summer of 2009, Ron and I made a plan to donate hair to the organization that provided my son, Ben, with a wig when he faced his brain tumor.

Back in 1992, when my son was receiving cancer treatments to fight a malignant brain tumor I went to our local mall for a little change of scenery...an escape if you will. Upon returning I heard Ben laughing and giggling in another room of our home. Grateful for any light moment, I went to see what was so funny.

Entering the living room, my first glance at Ben revealed a mostly bald head. Seeing his pale and sparsely "haired" head was very traumatic...for me. Ben actually enjoyed pulling out hunks of hair from his head. I was shocked. The moment was profound...cancer moved in while I was out.

Shortly after this incident, I researched and found 'Locks of Love.' The organization worked diligently to match Ben's hair color and style from pictures I had of him. The wig looked terrific on him and I was glad to have it on hand. Ben, didn't mind being bald. He wore his baseball cap a lot. I was grateful for the wig.

Since then my daughters, Emmy and Lizzie have donated their hair to the organization many times. I admired their efforts and appreciated their desire to give back. Their selflessness inspired Ron and me to go for it.

Growing your hair to at least 10 inches can be a trying experience. The many stages of bad hair days lingered for months; using hair ties and headbands didn't compensate for a good hair style. Through it all though, we kept visualizing the day when we could put our ponytail into an envelope and mail it away.

Monday, August 15th our littlest son, Graham had his regular hair appointment. As with each appointment over recent months we asked our hair stylist, Michelle, "is it long enough yet?" This time she said, "It's time!"

Yesterday the 17th, I called our local paper and headed to the hair salon. Michelle eagerly cut of our manes of curly hair. She was smiling like a toddler approaching a chocolate ice-cream cone.

In a few short minutes Ron and I had our pony tails removed and packed in plastic bags. And we had new "do's" on our head. What an amazing experience!

Ron and I don't have a lot of extra material things in our lives yet what we don't have in our wallets we surely have in our hearts. Giving back is a tenet of our marriage and family life. Giving our hair back to the organization that gave hair to one of our children was easy and free. This was just one way we've gotten creative in "paying it forward."

I write this to you as a "seed of good will" hoping that you will look within and figure out a way you can bring a blessing to others in our world. There are so many ways to reach out and there are so many people who could use a little help. I hope you find your special way.

Lizzie is getting ready to donate again and we are hoping that Graham, with his flaming red hair, will someday join the wig brigade.

I plan to post pictures on my website soon....hope you will take a peek.

Have hope,
Donna