A hairy situation in Harmony

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A hairy situation in Harmony

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 00:00

By Sam Gilkey
For the News-Gazette
There was plenty of long hair Feb. 1 during the Pink, Love & Harmony event at Harmony Community School.
Thirty students, parents and faculty donated 8 inches, or more, of their hair – a total of 283 inches–for wigs that will be made for cancer patients who have lost their hair during treatment.
The Pantene company created the Beautiful Lengths program in 2006 and has donated 18,000 real-hair wigs at no cost to the American Cancer Society’s wig banks. The banks distribute wigs to cancer patients across the country.
“The Technology Student Association hosted the event,” Melissa Muralles, a kindergarten teacher at Harmony Community School and a helper with the association, said. “We had set a goal of getting 10 pony tails cut and sent to Pantene, so this was an overwhelming success. The TSA students all felt this should be a new tradition for the school and will do it again next year.”
London Muralles, 13, a seventh-grader donated eight inches of her hair.
“We wanted a community project and this was a good way to help people,” she said. “I donated 10 inches (of hair) the last time I had it cut a year or so ago.”
As might be expected, the long hair came from the women and girls who gave up their locks.
But there was one male student who made the decision to have his hair cut.
“I was going to cut it anyway,” 12-year-old Leif Erikson said. “Another classmate inspired me to do it (with the others) and donate it. It has taken about 2 and a half years for it to grow this long.”
Carrie Tyrell, of St. Cloud, the owner of Carrie’s Cuts and Creations did the honors and said she has sent hair to other programs of this type over the years. Her sister, Robin Sexton, did the nails of the female donors while they waited their turn in the chair.
Claudia Mejia, of St. Cloud, was one parent who donated her long hair.
“This is the first time I have done this,” she said. “I had it cut 16 months ago and it grows very fast.”
Her 9-year-old daughter, Aimee Rodriguez, also was a donor.
Additionally, the evening provided an opportunity for 19 parents and faculty members to join the Florida Bone Marrow Registry.
“A representative from the Central Florida Blood Bank was very pleased with the number,” Melissa Muralles said. “She told us that she would be lucky to get that many registries in an eight-hour period, but it took only a few hours at Harmony.”
The blood bank said that every year thousands of adults and children need bone marrow transplants, a procedure that could be their only chance for survival. Some 75 percent of patients who need a transplant do not find a matching marrow donor in their family. Their lives depend on locating an unrelated person with compatible tissue type who is willing to donate marrow.