Students cut hair for cancer patients

Two eight-year-old Fairland Laerskool students made the decision to cut their hair in aid of cancer patients. For the first time in their lives, Shane Mengel and Tamryn Arter cut their long hair with a view to donate it to CANSA, who will in turn create wigs for cancer sufferers.

Mengel said she did this to help those in need. “I met Pippie Kruger after her traumatic burn experience. Our school held a fundraising event for her. We all fell in love with her and I realised how easy it is to help other people. That’s why I decided to donate my hair to CANSA. I want my hair to be made into a wig for a cancer survivor.” Mengel explained that her mother spoke to CANSA and they informed her that three individual sets of hair are needed to make one wig. She and fellow student Arter decided then that they would do it together.

Arter said her realisation about the ways in which she can help cancer survivors came to light when she learnt about Linden High School student Daniel Oosthuizen, who lost his fight against cancer a year ago.

According to CANSA’s website, thousands of South Africans are diagnosed with cancer every year, and hair loss is something many struggle with. To help restore dignity and a sense of self-worth to those who have lost their hair during cancer treatment, CANSA makes and distributes over 2 000 wigs via wig banks each year – of those, 200 are donated to young cancer survivors under the age of 18.

The number of wigs CANSA distributes through wig banks each year is dependent on the number of donations received. CANSA relies on both human-hair donations as well as financial contributions.

It can cost up to R2 000 to turn human and synthetic hair into just one wig. D

etails: CANSA Western Gauteng on 011-768-4342, www.cansa.org.za