Young Thatcham girl donates her hair to cancer charity Little Princess Trust

A young Thatcham girl has donated her hair to cancer support charity Little Princess Trust.

Now hailed as a local superstar, 11-year-old Trisha Mehta was interested in what cancer was and the impact it has after she saw her grandmother battle the disease.

“I watched my grandmother go through it when I was little and it was very sad for me to see her without any hair and I wondered how a little girl even younger than her would feel going through that,” she said.

“I wanted to give someone their confidence again.”

Trisha entered Chakra Hair Salon in Newbury with hair down to her elbows on January 28 and left with a chic bob and a great feeling.

The Brockhurst and Marlston House pupil said: “I feel very proud of myself my hair is definitely a lot lighter than it was before.

“One of my friends will be doing it in Easter and I have told her to think about how happy she’ll be making the little girl who will get her hair.”

Trisha has donated her hair to Little Princess Trust, which sent her an information pack with all the information a child may need to understand the gravity of what they are doing.

It was during the pandemic that the discussion of donating hair arose in their Thatcham home and her mother Kavita Mehta said it was an emotional feeling seeing how big her daughter’s heart really was.

"It really struck a chord with her and that’s when we started talking about how, if she wanted to, she could donate her hair and make someone else get their confidence back and feel prettier and feel like a princess so we have been talking about it for quite a few years," she said.

“At Christmas she came up to me and said 'Mum I want to do this, I think my hair is at a stage where I can donate it'.

“I wanted her to be really ready so we ordered a fundraiser pack and it explained in simple terms what she would be doing and what the money will do.

“It put it all into perspective for her so we set a date and she had been looking forward to it though she was a bit nervous the day before I have to say.

“She thinking how will my new hair look? Will it suit me? But of course she went ahead with it and she was very pleased with the outcome.”

She added: “I was very emotional at the salon but I was so proud of her.

“All little girls love their hair, they want to be princesses inspired by Rapunzel, but she parted ways with hers, it was the proudest moment for a lot of us.”

The family raised £780 online via their JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/trisha-hair-donation

They say they have been supported by friends, school and family including relatives from India and America.