NORWICH – Being diagnosed with any type of cancer is always be a bitter pill to swallow, and knowing that a mother and daughter duo from Norwich went to great lengths to lend a hand.
Enter six-year-old Janessa Jackson and mother Jessica of Norwich. Earlier in September, Jessica needed a haircut (a few of them) and decided that she would donate the trimmings to a charity for children who suffer from a medical condition known as alopecia areata.
The condition is typically side-effect – seen in patients under going cancer treatments such as chemotherapy of radiation treatments.
Based upon her past experience with donating her hair for a worthy cause, Jessica vowed to give it another go.
“This is the second time that I have donated to a hair charity,” said Jessica. “I did it for the first time about eight years ago, at that time I donated about ten inches to Locks of Love organization.”
The elder Jackson, who works at the Norwich Family YMCA, chose this time to give her brunette locks to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths organization based on the advice of her hair dresser Courtney Chmielowiec of A Touch of Moore spa in Norwich.
When young Janessa became aware of what her mother was doing, she exercised compassion and a took it upon herself to do the same.
“I explained to (Janessa) that was giving my hair to sick children who couldn’t grow their hair back like we could,” said Jessica “She immediately asked 'Can I do it too?'”
As it turns out Janessa – a first-grader at Gibson Elementary and Donna Frech Dancer – had more to give that her mother.
“We both had really long hair, but she decided she would have hers cut down to shoulder length, and she has no regrets about it,” said Jessica.
According to both jessica and grandmother Denise Bullock, young Janessa fully understood that her would grow back was excited to help.
“I donated just over the ten-inch requirement, Janessa's was closer to twelve inches long,” added Jackson.
“I'm very proud of what Janessa decided to do, it was very giving and responsible of her,” said Bullock of her granddaughter.
Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society, which strives to better the quality of life for people facing the disease.
According to the Beautiful Lengths website, Pantene has donated 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks.
Many children who receive these hairpieces have lost more than their hair; they suffer from a loss of self. Many children have been teased by classmates and are often embarrassed by the attention they receive because of their hair loss.
While wearing a hairpiece is certainly not a cure for these children, it can help restore some of the normalcy to their everyday lives that most of us take for granted.
The wig banks distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country.
Jackson said, “It was nice to know that she wanted to help out others that are having a hard time, and she had plenty to donate.”
For more information, contact the American Cancer Society’s Wig Bank Line at 1-877-227-1596.
To donation information visit pantene.com or locksoflove.org.