Youngster donates her hair to kids’ cancer charity

HER waist-length locks were her crowning glory. But kind-hearted six-year-old Christina Downie decided to chop off her long tresses to help provide wigs for children who have lost their own hair through gruelling treatment for cancer and other illnesses.
Christina Downie with her shorn locks. Picture: Lisa FergusonChristina Downie with her shorn locks. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
Christina Downie with her shorn locks. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

As well as donating her hair, the Forthview Primary School pupil has raised more than £1100 for the Little Princess Trust.

Proud mum Dawn said her little girl had overheard her talking about the work of the charity and she was inspired to go for the chop.

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Dawn, 31, said: “I decided to let her do it as she is the type of child that once she gets it into her mind that she wants to do something then there is nothing stopping her.”

The donations have poured in from friends and supporters of the Pilton family, smashing the £1000 barrier only last week.

Dawn, who is a full-time mum, said: “I didn’t think she would raise this amount of money, I thought it might be £150 or something like that.

“It is doing a fantastic thing for such a young age, and I couldn’t be any more proud of her.”

Her aunt Ashley, who works as a freelance hairdresser, wielded the scissors yesterday and Christina’s siblings 11-year-old Ty, and Rebbekkah, ten, helped with the first cut of the ponytail, while her oldest brother Kyle, 12, provided moral support.

Dawn said: “It was fantastic. She was very, very brave.

“She had been quite nervous and excited beforehand but then she just got it done, no problem. There were lots and lots of smiles.”

Dawn added: “She thinks its brilliant and can’t wait to show her friends.”

The 10in plaits have been packaged up to be sent to the Little Princess Trust, which provides free wigs for children.

The real-hair wigs cost between £350 and £500 to make.

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Monica Glass, from the Little Princess Trust, said: “Everyone at the Little Princess Trust is so very grateful to Christina. What an amazing little girl.

“To donate her hair is absolutely fantastic but to have raised enough money too for the charity to buy a further three wigs for poorly children is truly wonderful.

“What an inspiration she is.”

Earlier this year three-year-old Charlotte Hoehle-Reynolds become an online sensation after news of her gesture to chop off her long blonde hair went viral and won the hearts of more than a million people across the globe.

The Evening News story 
telling how Charlotte donated her tresses to the Little Princess Trust was shared on social media more than 30,000 times and attracted more than a million likes from people including well-wishers in the United States, Israel and the Philippines.