INNISFAIL - She’s nine-years-old and has a dream with an inspiration to achieve it.
The young Innisfailian child’s dream is to help children. Her inspiration is her grandma.
Nine-year-old Annie Kerkhoff cut her hair to make her dream come true, and her grandma smile.
“I am so very proud of her,” said grandma Jutta.
Annie’s hair grew to her waist this summer, and It could have been even longer had she not had six inches cut off in March. Even still, she told her mom in July that she needed another cut.
“Annie had talked about cutting her hair off because she is not taking dancing anymore,” said Melissa. “Her hair was down to her waist and I told her we could donate it one day.”
Her daughter then countered if that was to be the case, she wanted to do it for kids.
“We decided to donate her hair to Wigs for Kids,” she said, noting the B.C. organization was the closest charity of its kind the family could find.
The B.C.-based grassroots community program, operated solely by a committee of 20 volunteers, raises money year-round to provide free custom-fitted human-hair wigs for children who have lost their hair due to cancer or other serious illnesses.
The organization also helps cover the costs of essential drugs and feeding supplies not covered by the province’s medical services plan (MSP).
“I told her what the wigs were for, that they were for kids that had cancer, and who lose all their hair – just like grandma did,” said Melissa.
Grandma Jutta was diagnosed Aug. 15, 2019 with aggressive Hodgkins Lymphoma, a relatively rare cancer that starts in the lymph system in white blood cells. To combat this, Jutta required chemotherapy treatment.
“I am getting better slowly. It’s taking its time to get better,” she said, adding her last treatment was in January. “Chemo does a lot to your body, so muscle and energy-wise I am still working on that.”
In the meantime, young Annie wants to do her very best to help kids, and honour her grandma.
“My mom said I could donate it and I wanted to help out kids to get a wig so they don’t need to be bald and they can feel like they have actual hair,” said Annie. “It made me feel good.”
Annie officially had her big cut for kids and grandma on July 21.
The huge ball of 12-foot long clipped hair was then rolled up and wrapped with tissue paper and sent to B.C. A cancer-stricken child now has Annie’s beautiful long hair.
But the young Innisfail child is not done yet. She is growing it long once again and in grandma’s name to help another child.
“I am doing it again so even more kids can have wigs,” said Annie.
For more information on Wigs for Kids go to www.wigsforkidsbc.com
