Cancer is known to be a dreadful disease, but a mom found a way to help bring cheer to young girls battling cancer with the help of wigs made from yarn.
Holly Christensen, a former oncology nurse who lives in Palmer, Alaska, had a friend whose daughter named Lily was diagnosed with cancer. Knowing how cancer affected people, she wanted to cheer up the two-year-old girl by making her a wig, helping her cope from chemotherapy's hair loss side effects.
"I knew that Lily would probably have a hard time losing her long, curly hair," Christensen told Today. "I also knew that chemotherapy would make her scalp too sensitive and tender for traditional wigs…I thought this would be perfect for Lily — something that could comfortably cover her hair and something that could bring a little light into an otherwise difficult time in her life, allowing her to go back into the magical world of princesses and make-believe."
ABC news reported that Christensen made her a yellow Rapunzel wig. She learned how to make Disney princess-hairstyle wigs when she was making 'Elsa' and 'Anna' (from the movie “Frozen”) halloween costumes for her two daughters.
From that experience, the mom started to organize a project to give yarn wigs to little cancer patients and put up a yarn donation request on Facebook. She received an overwhelming response, and thus started The Magic Yarn Project.
“Within hours, I was flooded with responses from around the nation,” Christensen wrote. “Mothers who wanted these wigs for their little girls who have cancer, complete strangers who wanted to help by donating money to buy yarn, hospitals reaching out and requesting some of these wigs for their hospitals.”
Currently, the Magic Yarn Project has more than 100 volunteers making yarn wigs to give to young kids stricken with cancer. The wigs are funded by donors, made by volunteers and are given free of charge to recipients.
What started out as a little plan to cheer up a child turned into a small project, then now into an effort to start a non-profit organization to spread the love.
A GoFundMe page started by Magic Yarn Project manager Bree Hitchcock has already raised more than $23,000 to date, surpassing the $20,000 goal.
"Girls are princesses no matter what, but we recognize that losing hair is an emotionally difficult side effect of chemotherapy," Christensen said. "And, these little girls need to keep their scalps covered and warm — so why not provide them with a comfortable head-covering that allows them a magical escape from their cancer and allows parents to see their imaginative, happy little girl again?"
