A TEENAGER whose younger brother has been diagnosed with leukaemia is having her waist-length hair cut to make a wig.
Bryony Booth’s six-year-old brother Harrison has spent the last five weeks at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital receiving chemotherapy and steroids to help him battle the cancer.
The Year 9 student at Haslingden High School, wants to raise money for Ronald McDonald Charities because her family has stayed in the accommodation provided by the charity while Harrison has been on Ward 84.
After Easter, her 21 inch plait will be cut in front of her school friends and sent to the Little Princess Trust to make wigs for children undergoing treatment for cancer.
It was at the end of February half-term when Harrison, a pupil at St Veronica’s RC School, Helmshore, was diagnosed while the family were staying with their Nan in County Durham.
After treatment in Newcastle, Harrison was transferred to Manchester and since then the family’s life has been turned upside down.
His parents Richard and Catherine run Broadway Childcare in Helmshore, but with Harrison in the hospital Catherine has stayed in the accommodation full-time to be near him.
The family, including eight-year-old Alexander, have visited whenever possible.
Bryony, 13, said: “I see my mum every weekend and my dad goes over every night to visit.
“My mum has been taught how to give him his medicine and feed him using the tube so he can come home when he is stable, but he will have to go back to hospital twice a week for chemotherapy. He got really upset because he lost his hair.
“My dad has previously done the Macmillan Brave the Shave, but Harrison didn’t want my mum or dad to shave their heads.
“He agreed for me to do it because I am only having my hair cut short. When I was seven or eight I had my hair cut to shoulder-length and have been growing it ever since. This will be the first time I have had it so short.”
Harrison will be given treatment over six months and then will need regular checks every month for three years.
Bryony is planning to have her hair cut in front of her year group after Easter.