Martine Dwyer is asking Santa for a silver iPod Nano this Christmas, but the eight-year-old is also giving a gift of her own - hope to another child.Last Thursday, the Grade 3 student at Christ the King Catholic School donated 10 inches of her pigtailed long, golden tresses to be made into a wig for a child who has lost his or her hair to alopecia, burns or as a result of chemotherapy or radiation treatments for cancer.
"I wanted to give my hair because it's good to give at Christmas," Martine said, as stylist Romanie Persaud chopped through her thick locks at Rendezvous Hair Salon on Thirty Seventh Street.
Martine followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Maggie, nine, who donated her hair to the same cause on Valentine's Day after the girls' great aunt May lost all her hair two years ago after chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer.
"Two weeks ago, Martine approached us and asked, 'Can I give my hair for Christmas?'" Martine's mom, Mary said.
"We were thinking she'd do it on Valentine's Day next year with her sister."
Dad, Craig, donated a pigtail of his own on Valentine's Day.
Yesterday, he shaved his head to support his younger daughter.
The Long Branch family is donating their hair to Angel Hair for Kids, a project of Mississauga-based A Child's Voice Foundation.
Angel Hair provides human or synthetic hair wigs to children who've lost their hair to medical causes. The agency reports this year 10,000 Canadian children will lose their hair to the A, B, Cs (alopecia, burns, cancer treatments).
Anyone interested in supporting Martine - and donating to the $800 to $1,500 cost to manufacture one hand-sewn wig for a child - can print a donation form at www.aha-studio.com/angel.htm. Wig costs vary depending on hair length and manufacturing requirements.
Maggie and four other donors, as well as four wig recipients, were profiled in a documentary screened at an Angel Hair gala in May.
To donate, hair must be 10 inches or longer, and not permed or heavily coloured.
"Everybody should donate their hair," said younger brother, Mark, six, who also wants to grow his hair and donate it.