A Cookstown girl is to part with her beautiful long locks next month to raise money for two deserving charities.

Seven-year-old Ruby Maynes is nearing her £800 target which will be divided between the Little Princess Trust and Evie’s Special Bow which is a “very special charity” to the family.

Mum Gemma says Ruby will donate her hair to the Little Princess Trust after she visits a local salon on March 12.

“She is looking forward to it. She has been growing it a long time,” she said. “Her granny was combing it and told her that a lot of young girls don’t have hair like her and that started Ruby asking questions.”

Ruby is looking forward to donating her hair to The Little Princess Trust.

placeholder image — Ruby is looking forward to donating her hair to The Little Princess Trust.

Little Princess Trust provides free real hair wigs to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatments and other illnesses.

Evie’s Special Bow is a special named fund under the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) in memory of little Evie Latewood who died in June 2019 aged only two years old from Glioblastoma. She was born with a rare liver disease and needed a lifesaving liver transplant at just nine months old.

Tragically, Evie’s donor had died of the brain tumour called glioblastoma, which typically doesn’t spread outside of the brain.

Unfortunately, there was nothing typical about Evie and at 18 months old she was diagnosed with glioblastoma of the liver with metastases to the rib, kidneys and abdomen. All money raised for Evie’s Special Bow will go to research into Glioblastoma.

Evie, from The Birches, Dungannon, was related to Gemma and the family wanted to contribute to the her fund.

Ruby, a pupil at Phoenix Integrated School in Cookstown, has and older brother, Jayden, and a younger sister, Elsie.

“It’s nice to do something for others,” said Gemma. “You never know when it’s your turn to need help.”