A gem of shop assistant was inspired to donate her hair to sick youngsters by her friend who overcame leukaemia.
Bella Miotti, 19, who works at jewellery store Mococo, at Eagles Meadow shopping centre in Wrexham, followed in the footsteps of pop star Jessie J and had 15 inches of her flowing locks cut off.
She has given the hair to Little Princess Trust as a tribute to one of her best mates, Tiffany Jane Williams, 19, whose condition is now in remission.
Jessie J famously cut off her hair to raise £500,000 for Comic Relief.
The Little Princess Trust provides real-hair wigs to boys and girls across the UK and Ireland that have sadly lost their own hair through cancer treatment.
Bella, from Rossett, who had her hair cut at The Hair Lounge in the village, said: “They make wigs for girls and boys who have lost their hair because of cancer. It cost a lot of money to buy a proper wig. It cost about £350 on average.
“It’s just so easy to do, and I don’t think that many people actually know about it. Their hair just goes into the bin. If you get your hair cut at The Hair Lounge they can donate it for you.
“These wigs do make a real difference. Tiffany used wigs because she lost her hair during chemotherapy.
“They found a lump and they found out it was cancerous. You don’t think that things like that can happen to someone so young.
“You need to give a minimum of seven inches, and I had 15 so I had more than enough.”
Brave Tiffany, from Chester, who studies tourism management at University of Chester, found a lump on her neck in April 2014, which turned out to be cancerous.
She said: “It was a horrible experience sat on the chair being told. I cried for about four days and did nothing.
“After that I decided I can’t do nothing other than get on with it and beat it and that’s what I did.
“I’m so glad to go back into remission well hopefully but I took it on the chin and carried on there’s more people worse off than me so I was thankful I was able to go to uni and work and live normally.”
“I had a lump on my neck and thought it was tonsillitis in which I thought nothing of it.
“A few weeks later they got bigger I’d got back off holiday and it had looked like I had been weight lifting because my neck was that big so I went to the doctors. The nurse didn’t have a clue what it was and didn’t want to dismiss me from doctors without seeing another doctor there.
“He didn’t know what it was either and because I’d had them a while they were keen to fast track me as a “cancer patient”.
“At the time I didn’t know I was being tracked for that and they told me they wouldn’t rule any disease out because it could be anything so within two weeks I had lab tests on my neck, x-rays, blood tests and ultra sounds and it still didn’t tell them what it was.
“So I needed a lymphnode biopsy for a final diagnosis. At this point I knew full well something wasn’t right.
“People were telling me it was a cyst which I knew it wasn’t so I was told to wait 2 weeks for results.
“I went in and they told me I had Hodgkin’s lymphoma also known as Hodgkin’s disease which I knew nothing about or even if it was cancerous.
“My mum had to tell the consultant to say it was cancer and was the C word and then had to wait for a treatment plan.
“In the lead up to chemo I was told I’d need fertility treatment because there’s possibility I wouldn’t conceive after treatment.
“I needed a bone marrow biopsy which I would never wish anyone to have.
“I still worked whilst on chemo and still went to uni whilst on chemo I submitted three assignments and two exams on chemo.
“Mine was 90% curable I’m glad I can go back to normal. I’ve raised over £450 for cancer research to help raise awareness as well.”
Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley added: “I think it’s what Bella has done is fantastic. It’s so easy to, and it does make a real difference to young people who have lost their hair.”
