Maycie’s New Year’s wish for someone else

A kindergartener wanted to make someone a little happier this coming year. It was something that she had complete control of in the donation of her beautiful auburn tresses...rather long tresses (12 inch pony tails). So little Maycie Jonsgaard, daughter of Jess and Scott Jonsgaard of Lewiston walked into About Hair Salon where Mariah Franzen did the honors of cutting her beautiful locks.
Starting with putting her long hair into two pony tails Mariah starting the process of cutting her hair for the Locks of Love program and two 12 inch length if beautiful thick vibrant hair was cut.
Locks of Love is devoted to helping every child suffering from medical hair loss. Each hairpiece is custom made and vacuum-fitted. It takes anywhere from 6 to 10 ponytails to make each individual hairpiece. Maycie donated two ponytails each twelve inches long.
A large number of children live with alopecia. Alopecia is an auto-immune disorder that causes the hair follicles to shut down. This disease has varying degrees and affects 4.7 million people in the United States alone. Alopecia areata affects both sexes equally and may, but does not always, progress to significant hair loss. Currently, there is no known cause or cure for alopecia.
Cancer constitutes the second highest percentage of our recipients. Every year approximately 2,200 children under age 20 are diagnosed with brain tumors. Radiation treatment to the brain stem as a treatment for cancer can cause permanent hair loss. Chemotherapy may also cause hair loss to be long-term depending on the length of treatment needed.
Other causes of hair loss account for a small percentage of recipients.
Jess Jonsgaard shared, “Maycie really wanted to have her hair cut for Christmas but we just didn’t find the time until now to get it done. But she was just so proud to sit in the chair and watch her hair become short for the first time. This was Maycie’s very first real hair cut, other than just a litt trim to keep the ends healthy.”
As for Maycie, “I just was hoping that my hair might help another little girl like my age. That would be nice to happen. But I’m OK with who ever will get my hair.”
When Maycie was asked, “How do you like your new hair style? She responded, “I love it. I think it looks fine for now. But I want to do this again when my hair is long enough again.”
He mom said, “It was really hard for me to see her hair cut. I choked back the tears the whole time. I just didn’t want Maycie to see me cry so I stayed strong until the cut was over.”
She added, “Just couldn’t be more proud of Maycie to consider doing such a thing for someone else as young as she is. We talked about the donation awhile back but she remembered it and it was her decision to want to have her hair donated. Pretty neat for a six year old I think.”