Brisbane teen cuts 120cm ponytail for cancer research fundraiser
The first haircut of Yasmine Brockhurst’s life has seen the Queensland teen’s 120cm-long mane drop to the salon floor to raise money for medical research in memory of her grandmother
READING LEVEL: GREEN
A Queensland teen has cut her magnificent* 1.2m-long mane of hair for the first time in her life, in honour of her beloved grandmother and to help others suffering from cancer.
Brisbane’s Yasmine Brockhurst, 14, donated her knee-length hair to Donate a Ponytail – Sustainable* Salons to help create wigs for cancer patients experiencing hair loss during chemotherapy*.
Celebrity hairdresser Carole Haddad, a prominent* cancer fundraiser herself, was entrusted with the momentous* task of lopping off half of Yasmine’s mane last weekend.
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Yasmine said she was glad funds would go to cancer research at QIMR Berghofer, a top medical research institute, after the death of her grandmother in March from multiple cancers.
“I was excited and a bit nervous to have it chopped off for the first time,’’ the high school Rapunzel* said before the big event.
“With my Poa Poa (grandmother), the doctors didn’t know what was causing all the different cancers and how they were all related, so I wanted to raise money to help with cancer research. I’ve already raised $1070.’’
Yasmine, whose locks were as long as her 10-year-old brother was tall, used to need an hour to wash her hair, six hours to air-dry it and half an hour to braid it.
Although she loved her hair, she said it had become a bit of a weapon on the hockey field now she was playing for a state-level team.
Yasmine is still fundraising – anyone wishing to donate can visit QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and search using her name.
GLOSSARY
- magnificent: splendid, spectacular, prized
- sustainable: supporting long-term ecological, human, and economic health and vitality
- chemotherapy: powerful drug treatment to stop cancer cell growth and division
- prominent: important, leading, established, successful
- momentous: having great significance or special importance
- Rapunzel: character in famous German fairytale by Brothers Grimm
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QUICK QUIZ
- How long was Yasmine’s hair when she went in for the snip?
- Yasmine donated her ponytail to which organisation?
- What does that organisation do with the donated hair?
- What motivated Yasmine to raise money for cancer?
- How much money has Yasmine raised so far?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What could you do?
Create a program of activities for your school and/or local community. The purpose of your activities is to help other kids understand why medical research is so important to help people with cancer and help raise money for Yasmine.
Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Science
2. Extension
Imagine that you woke up tomorrow morning with hair that was so long it reached the ground! Write a story describing what happened, what it was like and what you did next.
Time: allow 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English
VCOP ACTIVITY
A cut for a cause
So many young people around Australia are making a difference with some very big acts of kindness.
But it doesn’t always need to be a big act that makes a big difference.
Think of three smaller acts of kindness that you could do to bring smiles to other people’s faces. See if you can complete your acts of kindness before the school holidays. Every time you complete an act of kindness, think about how it made you feel to make someone else smile.