CHESAPEAKE – Miranda Eastham and Joy Swann looked at pictures of themselves Friday, their long hair showing prominently.

Monday, October 09, 2000

CHESAPEAKE – Miranda Eastham and Joy Swann looked at pictures of themselves Friday, their long hair showing prominently.

Now, their hair is shorter, much shorter.

"I got 12 inches of my hair cut off for Locks of Love," said Miranda, 9. "They help kids who have cancer."

Joy did the same thing.

The Chesapeake Elementary students grew their hair for several months, then had it cut as a donation to two non-for-profit organizations for children who experience hair loss while battling cancer.

Fourth-grader Miranda said the idea of growing her hair and donating it came from her aunt.

"It all started when my aunt did it to her hair," she said. "I heard about it and thought, ‘Well that’s nice. I’d like to do that.’ So, my mom called my aunt to see how long my hair had to be and she said it had to be 10 inches or longer before I could do it."

She started growing her hair while in kindergarten and didn’t get it cut until recently, she said.

"I did it because I felt really, really sorry for these kids that don’t have any hair," Miranda said. "When they go to school, they get made fun of and it’s not their fault they’re like that."

Joy, who’s in second grade, said she could relate to the difficulties of losing her hair because of medicine, especially after Wigs for Kids helped her.

"I got (kidney) cancer when I was three years old," the 7-year-old said. "They helped me by getting me wigs when I lost my hair."

Chemotherapy treatments caused her to lose her hair, but she won the battle against cancer, she said.

"Because they helped me, I thought other people need (my) help and I wanted to help them," Joy said. "My doctor’s little girl had cancer, too, and she’s my friend, so, I know what it’s like."

Making the donation also made her feel happy.

Chesapeake Elementary school nurse Lesa Slack said the girls’ involvement in charitable donations was a little out of the ordinary, but heartwarming.

"When I found out what they had done, it almost made me want to cry," Ms. Slack said.

"It’s amazing they have done a deed such as this because every girl’s pride is her hair. This was so unselfish of them to give something of themselves to help someone else."