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Cara Mouw in photos before and after she donated 14.5 inches of hair to Locks of Love. |
Mouw, an administrative technician in the Dean’s Office at the UNMC College of Nursing, cut her below waist-length hair after Christmas and donated it to Locks of Love, a not-for-profit organization that provides custom-fitted hairpieces made entirely from donated human hair to financially disadvantaged children 18 and under with medical hair loss.
“Knowing someone with cancer makes you feel pretty helpless,” said Mouw, whose brother was diagnosed last fall with a cancerous brain tumor. “This is one way to help.”
Plus, Mouw was tired of the wintertime struggles of having longer hair, from constant static to getting it caught in the zipper of her coat. “I’d been thinking of getting it cut for a long time,” she said.
Ironically, Mouw scheduled her haircut just hours before learning that her nephew’s wife, Kim, had been diagnosed again with cancer. Kim, who had breast cancer nearly three years ago at age 27, learned four days before Christmas that her cancer had returned in her bronchial tubes. She is the mother of three children.
“It would have been harder to get it cut if I hadn’t heard of Kim’s cancer,” said Mouw, a resident of Underwood, Iowa, who joined UNMC nearly five years ago. “When I sat in the chair I thought about Kim.”
Donating 14.5 inches of hair was an easy decision. “I wouldn’t have felt right just throwing it away,” Mouw said. “It would be like throwing something of value away so I decided maybe someone else could benefit from it.”
Last week, Mouw, whose wavy brown hair now falls past her shoulders, received a thank-you for her Locks of Love donation. And, in four to six months, the length of time to hand-assemble each custom-fitted hair prosthetic, a child somewhere will sport a new hairdo, thanks to Mouw’s gift.
More on Locks of Love
Locks of Love provides financially disadvantaged children 18 and under with a custom, vacuum-fitted hairpiece made entirely from donated human hair. The vacuum fit is designed for children who have experienced a total loss of scalp hair and does not require the use of tape or glue.
Most of the applicants suffer from an auto-immune condition called alopecia areata, for which there is no known cause or cure. Others have suffered severe burns, or endured radiation treatment to the brain stem, in addition to many other dermatological conditions that result in permanent hair loss. The group has helped more than 1,400 children since it was founded in 1997. Donated hair is evaluated for its usefulness according to the following guidelines:
- The donated hair must be at least 10 inches in length (preferably longer).
- It must be bundled in a ponytail or braid.
- It must be free of hair damaged by chemical processing.
- The hair must be clean and dry, placed in a plastic bag, and mailed in a padded envelope to Locks of Love.