In the past year, 11-year-old Katelynn Elliott has seen more than her fair share of cancer.
Her grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. Her great uncle has prostrate cancer. Her mom's 36-year-old friend is battling both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Her uncle's mom got sick one day, lost her vision, and within a month, was dead. They later learned, the 58-year-old nurse had brain cancer.
"I don't really like it," she said. "It's not really a fun thing to have."
Katelynn is trying to ease the pain for kids diagnosed with the disease.
On Monday, the Grade 6 Tyson elementary student chopped off 12 inches of her thick, golden brown hair that extended past the Luongo lettering on the back of her Vancouver Canucks jersey, to help make a wig for a child in need.
It takes 12 donations of hair and costs $1,200 to craft one hand-sewn wig for a child.
"I think it's really sad to be affected by this, and I'd like to make someone happy by helping them get a wig," said Katelynn. "I feel that somebody else should have nice hair like me to fiddle with and play with."
Katelynn's not just cutting her locks, she's also raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
She started a fundraising campaign on Jan. 9 that will last until the end of the month. As part of the campaign, she's challenged her schoolmates to bring in as much loose change as they can for the cause.
So far, she's raised $650 towards her $1,500 goal.
For more information, or to donate, visit Katelynn's Cutting for Cancer fundraising page on the Canadian Cancer Society's website at http://cancerevents.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=420153&supid=349906896.
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