Little Cara sheds her locks to help children with cancer

Cara pictured with her parents and sisters and (right) holding up the pigtails she will be donating.

Around 100 people turned out in Limavady at the weekend to cheer on little Cara Hazlett, who was joined at the charity fundraising event by her parents Alana and Emmett and younger siblings Aoife (5), Shannon (3) and one-year-old Aine, as well as the widerfamily.

Alana said they were all extremely proud of Cara, who had come up with the idea herself after hearing her mum talking about the Little Princess Trust.

The Trust makes and donates wigs for girls and boys who have lost their hair as a result of chemotherapy.

Alana describes Cara, who will be going into Primary 3 at Termoncanice P.S. after the summer as “a wee trooper”.

“We are very proud of her. She is very caring. Cara is very good in the house and anybody that knows her always says how good she is. She looks out for her sisters and is like a wee second mammy to her yonger siblings.”

Once the hair is donated to the Little Princess Trust, it then costs £500 to have the wig carefully crafted in China, and Cara’s family helped support her by organising a Just Giving online fundraising campaign.

Alana said they were delighted to have doubled their initial target - through a combination of the online appeal, donations and a collection on the day of the big cut - which means that Cara’s fundraiser will now be able to help more children.

Cara with her aunt Roisin and some of the other children at the fundraising event.

On the day itself, Cara bravely saw the challenge through, although her mother admits she came close to shedding a tear herself. Alana said: “I was thinking, ‘I’m going to cry’; all the age of her and she is doing this to make another wee girl happy. Because I have the four girls I know what their hair means to them. And the charity also provide wigs for boys as well.”

The Little Princess Trust was set up in memory of Hannah Tarplee from Hereford, who sadly passed away after a short battle with cancer in 2005. During her illness her parents Simon and Wendy had found it difficult to obtain a suitable wig in a child’s size and had one made especially for her, although it proved very expensive.

With the donations made by friends during Hanna’s illness, after she passed away , her parents set up the Little Princess Trust, and the tailor made real hair wigs are donated free to children who need them.

“It’s a very worthwhile cause,” Alana said.