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A 10 year old boy spent two years growing his hair, donates it to make wigs for kids with cancer

“Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver.” – Barbara De Angelis

It’s nice to be reminded of certain acts of kindness, and this is one of those times. In 2014, when Thomas Moore was nearly 8 years old, his mom showed him a video of then five-year-old Kyssi Andrews, a little girl with cancer who’d lost her hair to chemotherapy. The little angel Kyssi unfortunately passed, but Thomas had felt deeply sorry for her and every other kid dealing with the same condition. He was then struck with an idea, and like the superhero he was, he acted on it without fear or doubt. His story went viral right after his aunt tweeted about it, garnering 57,000 retweets in a short while. People were truly stunned by such a selfless act of kindness coming from the little boy.

Two years avoiding the barber chair 

When Angela Pulos, Tom’s mom was watching the Kyssi’s video, he came up behind her to take a look. He was seven at the time and he didn’t really understand what the story was about. His mother then took the time to explain the basics of cancer, and how chemotherapy leads to hair loss. She mentioned that the drugs administered during the treatment would attack the rapidly growing cancer cells, but they would also attack other healthy cells in the body. Cells supporting the hair roots on the scalp and all over the body would be affected too. Finally telling him, that’s why people going through chemo lose so much hair and experience a lot of pain [1].

That’s when he decided – he wasn’t going to cut his hair until it grew long enough to make two full wigs [2]. He didn’t initially know how long he’d keep the journey up. He just wanted to grow his hair long enough to suit a little girl’s flashy taste.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Tom’s aunt, Amber Ray, described how dedicated he was to achieving his goal [3].

It started off just fine when his hair was shorter,” Ray said. “But as the afro grew, they had to cornrow it to keep it nice and tame.”

She explained that growing his hair for two years wasn’t always easy for Thomas. He has a tender scalp, and getting his hair braided always brought him a lot of pain. Sometimes he was tempted to quit, but his family always encouraged him to keep pushing.  “We had to re-focus on the reason for growing it,” Amber said.

Three wigs for three cancer survivors

Two years later, on a bright Saturday morning, 10-year-old Thomas went to get his hair cut at a wig salon. His long strands measured 17 healthy inches of fine hair when they came off. He had grown so much hair that the stylist was able to make three wigs out of it!

In a 2016 interview with NBC4, Tom’s mom declared how amazed she was at her son’s unrestrained selflessness [2].

I think it’s really fantastic that he felt like he could do something so selfless to help somebody else so much,” his mother Angie Pulos told NBC.

Thomas was famous at school during those two years. His hair was so full and long. Understandably, he was nervous about going to school the next week with a haircut, but to him, it was all worth it. Thomas is 12 years old now, and we hope that he’s considering doing it again. What are another 2 years?

Kids should be taught the virtues of kindness and charity at a young age. It should be the duty of every adult to educate a child on the joy and love shared when they do something nice for someone. Thomas didn’t expect anything in return. All he wanted was to put a smile on a little girl’s face. His selfless act melted hearts all over the world, and let’s not forget it.

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