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Locks lost to help children with medical issues

It may have been Friday the 13th, but there was no bad luck in sight for Ruby Irwin.
Ruby Irwin chopped her locks all in the name of love.
Ruby Irwin chopped her locks all in the name of love.

It may have been Friday the 13th, but there was no bad luck in sight for Ruby Irwin. Not only did the nine-year-old help her ringette team to a fine finish, but the young girl was sporting a sassy new hairdo — and the rest of her locks are ready to be made into a hairpiece.

Irwin is donating her long red hair to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hairpieces to children suffering from medical hair loss.

“I want to help other kids who don’t have hair,” said Irwin.

The cause is one that Irwin knows all too well — it wasn’t too long ago that she was losing her hair.

About three years ago, Irwin was diagnosed with alopecia. While she didn’t lose all her hair, she lost patches of her locks, along with hair shed from her eyebrows and eyelashes.

“Ruby would have liked to have had a wig provided for her when she was losing her hair,” said Diane Irwin, Ruby’s mom.

The decision to cut her hair wasn’t one that Ruby took lightly. Diane said her daughter researched different non-profit organizations and reasons for medical hair loss before coming to the decision to go under the scissors.

Ruby said her main reason for chopping off her long red lock is to raise awareness for alopecia — she wants her schoolmates, and others, to know about the hair loss disease.

“It was hard when she was losing her hair — but I’m so proud of her decision (to donate),” said Diane. “That’s Ruby for you.”

In addition to the hair donation, Ruby has been collecting monetary donations for the same cause.

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