For those of you who don't know, I've now been growing my hair for the past 6 years, with every intention of one day cutting it all off for a good cause, and now is the time - it's happening on the 12th September at Toni & Guy Chelmsford!!!

The money I will be fundraising will be for young Winnie D'Arcy and her family. Winnie is one of my closest friend's nieces, and I can think of no greater nor more deserving cause for this hair cut. Donations will be handled by The Tree of Hope. The Tree of Hope are a charity who support families with sick children and oversee all their expenditure. Rest assured all of the money raised goes towards Winnie and her needs. The Tree of Hope give transparency for expenditure for the donator and the family.

The hair itself will be donated to the Little Princess Trust - a charity that provides real-hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their hair through cancer treatments & other conditions.

Winnie suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta and Autism and has to date had 7 operations at 6 years old to help to strengthen her bones and physical health. 

The family would like to focus on fundraising for Winnie’s home to become more accessible for her, including the garden and therapies to help her along her childhood journey.

Weekly physiotherapist sessions costs around £90 for one hour. That’s an annual cost of £4680.

Winnie’s surgeries to-date have been an annual event, costing around £1500 in expenses per stay.

Other costs come with equipment, clinic appointments, treatments, unpredictable poor health and respite.

Winnie has to contend with challenges every day. She requires full time care, and anyone who assists her must have specialist knowledge on how to physically assist and socially support her needs.

In the summer of 2022, Winnie, Emma (Winnie's Mum), Steve (Winnie's Dad) and Haze (Winnie's little sister) moved into a home that provided them with a garden and opportunities internally to make the home suit Winnie's long term needs. The family spend a lot of time at home often struggling to get out so they want to make the garden a haven for Winnie to find respite when she is not able to get out or to school.

The family were given news in September 2022 that the treatment she had been getting for the last 5 years had not been showing any signs of improving the strength of her bones, so they really want to focus more energy on physio and hydrotherapy to improve her muscle tone.

In January 2023, Winnie had her 4th procedure on her legs to insert rods into her bones and strengthen them with the hope to one day see her standing independently. Winnie is a full time wheelchair user and needs assistance with all mobility.

This operation has caused a very slow recovery this year and Winnie had not even been able to attend school from January through to April. This prolonged time has had a huge financial and mental impact on the whole family and causes disruption to all aspects of their lives including work, care, school and needing respite.

Winnie faces challenges every week, she is more often recovering from a fracture than not, but she still manages to show progression in her development and keeps the family on their toes. 

"Winnie is a very intelligent and creative little girl who knows exactly what she likes and what she doesn't like. Winnie will amaze you and surprise you all at once and for that reason we want to support and give her all the best chances in life. You want your children to have all the same opportunities as everyone else so that's why we work so hard to fundraise for her and welcome anyone else who wishes to join us along the way. We are so grateful to everyone who loves and supports her."

Winnie's family foresee the funds needed in the future to help pay towards:

- A fully Accessible Sensory Garden

- Adaptations to the home, including flooring changes to allow Winnie to independently use her wheelchair around the home, a wet room, some room adjustments and a hoist system.

- An electrical wheelchair that she can use independently whilst managing fractures.

- Therapies including Physiotherapy, Hydrotherapy, S&L Therapy, Eating SOS therapy, Occupational Therapy and Counselling for the family. 

- Further expenses around surgical procedures and traveling to clinic appointments at Great Ormond Street Hospital