Niamh's €1,500 haircut!
A fifth year student in Tullamore's Sacred Heart School could be described as having one of the most valuable heads of hair among her classmates!
Niamh Walsh from Killeigh, who will celebrate her 18th birthday next month, has raised over €1,500 so far for the Offaly cancer care centre, Dochas, by donating 17 inches of her magnificent trademark auburn hair to the Rapunzel Foundation, which makes wigs for children suffering from hair loss as a result of cancer treatment.
Niamh, who is daughter of David and Therese Walsh, and has five sisters, had her hair cut by Lorena in Ritzy's hairdressing salon in Tullamore just recently and says she is still trying to get used to her new hairstyle.
“I had been contemplating cutting my hair for a few months, and I finally decided to do it for two reasons,” said Niamh. “Firstly, for Rapunzel, who make wigs for children suffering from hair loss, because they grow out of their wigs really quickly and they are extremely expensive, and secondly, to raise awareness and money for our local branch of Dochas, which is a very worthy organisation.”
Niamh's aunty, Sarah Betson, proved to be the catalyst for Niamh to finally decide to take the drastic step to cut over 17 inches off her hair, as Sarah had gone down the same route some time ago. “She finally convinced me to follow in her footsteps, so I'm delighted I took that final step and got it cut” says Niamh.
The Sacred Heart school student only started growing her hair when she went into sixth class in Killeigh National School, having always had a short bob style, and says she wanted long hair for Confirmation.
Now that she is back to a short bob style over six years later, she says she is “really happy” to have been able to raise over €1,500 after her trip to Ritzy's hair salon, and she would like to thank everybody who contributed so generously to her fundraising drive and, in particular, the business people who are members of the Tullamore Branch of Business Network International (BNI) for their incredible generosity.