A young girl from Queensbury cut off 16 inches of her hair to donate to children suffering from cancer or other illnesses.
Seven-year-old Anaiya Rana also raised £1,655 for the Little Princess Trust, an organisation providing free wigs for children who have lost their hair due to illness or medical treatments.
The pupil was inspired by her sister, Jasmine, who donated 12 inches of her hair in 2018 and raised £1,300 for the same organisation.
Anaiya said: “I remember my sister cut her hair off for charity and that made me scared to go to the hairdresser as I didn’t want short hair.
“As I've got older, I understand why she did it and although I want long silky dark brown hair like my mummy, I know if I donate it, someone will be happy.”
Having grown out her hair since she was three years old, Anaiya decided to cut off her hair two weeks ago.
The Uxendon Manor Primary School pupil was initially nervous but said she was happy it was going to a good cause, and that "after they cut it a little bit it already started feeling lighter”.
Anaiya’s father, Harry Rana, said: “When Anaiya was little and she saw her sister come home with very short hair she was not interested in getting her hair cut.
“But then eventually she said, can I do it? It’s something that we’re more than happy to support.”
The young girl also went far beyond her initial target of £1,400 and raised the money with the help of the local community, businesses, and clubs like Kenton Lawn Tennis Club, Hak Food Centre, Shay Naiy Sweet Mart and her primary school Uxendon Manor.
Harry continued: “These are difficult times for everybody and so many people have been so generous and what we’re proud of is that we’ve raised a little more awareness about the Princess Trust.”
Little Princess Trust has made more than 12,000 wigs since 2006 with grants totalling more than £17m towards research projects focussed on finding more effective treatments for childhood cancers.
All the money needed to produce wigs comes from donations and crowd fundraisers like Anaiya’s.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here