Sometimes we tend to focus in on the negative things in the world around us. It’s easy to do, because ‘bad news sells’ and we often get a view of the world from the agencies that promote bad news. Every once in a while, however, something good comes along and it is important to hear about it. This is one of those times.
It involves a young man named Thomas Moore who, when he was only eight years old in 2014, decided to grow his hair. It happened after his mother showed a video of a five-year-old girl with cancer, Kyssi Andrews to her son. The fact that the little girl had lost her hair really touched him deeply. He began thinking about other children who had the same condition and he came up with an idea. What is more, he acted on it without doubting or fearing.
After his aunt posted the story on Twitter, it went viral and got over 57,000 retweets. People were amazed that such a young man could give so much in an unselfish act.
When Tom’s mom was watching the video, Thomas came up behind her and saw what she was watching. Even though he was only seven at the time and didn’t understand what he was seeing, she took the time to explain it. She told him about cancer and chemotherapy and how children can lose their hair as a result of it. His mother talked about the treatment drugs that attack cancer cells but they also attacked healthy cells in the body.
Those healthy cells include those that support the hair on the scalp and the rest of the body. She then summed it up by telling him that people who go through chemotherapy experience a lot of pain and sometimes, lose their hair.
Thomas knew in his heart that he had to do something for that little girl. He knew that it must be difficult to lose your hair when you are so young. He then made the decision not to cut his hair until he had grown enough to make two full wigs. He wasn’t sure how long it would take at first but he knew he just wanted to grow enough so that a little girl would have the hair she needed.
His aunt, Amber Ray spoke with Buzzfeed about his dedication to achieving his goal.
“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.”
It wasn’t always easy for Thomas to grow out his hair. His scalp was tender and he had to endure a lot of pain to get his hair braided regularly. It was tempting for him to quit sometimes but he was encouraged by his family to keep moving forward. “We had to re-focus on the reason for growing it,” Amber said.
After two years, Thomas was 10 years old and he went to a wig salon to get his haircut. He now had 17 inches of healthy hair and he was able to surpass his goal. When the stylist removed his hair, there was enough to make 3 wigs!
Tom’s mom talked about how amazed she was at the selflessness of her son.
“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 said.
During the two years that he was growing his hair, it was full and long and he gained quite a bit of notoriety at his school. Now he was nervous about going back to school without the hair but it was all worth it to him. Today, Thomas is 12 years old and perhaps he may even consider doing it again.
my nephew grew his hair out for two years to donate to kids with cancer ???? pic.twitter.com/YuamNNcMEI
— amber lynne (@storkpatrol) September 11, 2016
Children are able to display a lot of kindness and when they are encouraged to do so at a young age, it can really carry over into adulthood. This young man didn’t want anything in return for his selfless act. He just wanted to put a smile on the little girl’s face who had lost her hair because of a terrible disease.
Source: TheHeartySoul
