Teen shows love with gift of hair
Published: February 12, 2006
People find all kinds of ways to say “I love you,” on Valentine’s Day, from chocolates to cards to flowers or special remembrances. [Valentine's Day Is]
Sixteen-year-old Jacinda McQueen hopes she can suggest another way, by learning about giving a gift that will help a child deal with the emotional trauma of hair loss due to disease, cancer or other reasons.
Last summer, McQueen had her waist-length hair bound into a pony tail and cut off, to help a child she would never meet and to honor a cousin who battled leukemia, and won. Locks of Love, McQueen explained, makes wigs for children who have lost their hair.
It took two years for McQueen to get her hair long enough to donate a full 12 inches of it to the Locks of Love program. But already, she is a half-year into the process of growing her hair to have it cut again.
“I had a cousin, Randy Jo Taylor, who lived over in Kingsport (Tenn.) and lost her hair due to chemo when she was four or five years old,” McQueen said. “She was my mom’s brother, Clarence Taylor’s child. She recovered and got her hair back, but it really bothered her when she didn’t have any hair. [Not Now... I'm Having a No Hair Day :: Humor & Healing for People With Cancer]
“She didn’t like wearing the synthetic wigs because they itched so bad, so she wore a ball cap instead. That made me start thinking about doing something to help children like her.”
McQueen, who is the daughter of Luster and Linda McQueen of Strawberry Patch, had a second inspiration for her commitment to Locks of Love. Her mother had heard about the program on television, and donated about 12 inches of her own hair in honor of Randy Jo in April 2003.
“I started letting my hair grow in August 2003, and it took about two years to get it long enough, because it was pretty short when I started,” she said.
McQueen, a busy sophomore, majorette and active member of the FCCLA - Family, Community Career Leaders of America - at Powell Valley High School, hadn’t mentioned her hair donation plan to others.
“We did not have a clue,” teacher and FCCLA sponsor Connie Carico said. “We were at the Virginia FCCLA Leadership Conference at Virginia Beach, and her hair had gotten so long and thick that it was painful to the point that she was getting headaches. When we asked her why she was putting up with it, why she didn’t just cut it, she finally told us what she was doing.”
It was a great idea for a public service project for FCCLA, Carico told her student. “She wasn’t doing it for credit. It hadn’t occurred to her.”
Together, they explored ways McQueen might adopt Locks of Love as her community service project, and at the same time, raise public awareness about the program, and what it can mean to children who have lost their hair. “My project will be to get people to join up, donate their hair and help,” she said.
She’s already motivated one additional person to “make the cut.” Her donor haircut was July 2, 2005. Her brother, Nathaniel, 15, had his hair cut Aug. 1, right before school started.
Between now and the time she leaves for this year’s state leadership conference on March 31, McQueen will be making posters, putting up a bulletin board, fielding inquiries about Locks of Love, and telling folks about ways they can get involved.
THE REST OF JACINDA’S STORY
“This is an exceptional student, and I admire her so much,” Carico said of McQueen.
“Despite some pretty serious problems at home, she’s managed to stay active in school and help take care of her family. As an adult, if I had taken on the extra responsibilities she has taken on this year, I don’t know if I could handle it or not. She’s motivated and she’s a self starter.” [The Values Book : Teaching Sixteen Basic Values to Young Children]
Not long after McQueen’s first Locks of Love haircut, her mother, Linda, had surgery. Due to complications, she has been in the hospital or the nursing home since October. It has fallen to the teen to help her dad manage the household, seeing that laundry gets done and helping with meals for brothers Nathaniel, 15, and Jonathan, 10.
“I do all the cooking, but I make the boys help now,” she said. “I get up about six o’clock, get ready and get the boys up, and we have breakfast at school. When this all started, I did all the laundry and cooking, but then, I taught them how. Now I do mine and Jonathan’s, and Nathaniel and Dad do their own.
“When I cook supper, I tell the boys, ‘Get in here and help me cook.’ They take turns with the dishes. We go visit Mom most nights.”
They still make time for extracurricular activities. Jacinda has been in the band since sixth grade, and plays flute. Nathaniel plays drums in the band. Jonathan is in fifth grade, too young for band yet, Jacinda said.
When she graduates from high school, she’s looking at a career in radiology or pharmacy, she said. But for now, home, school, majorettes and her project are enough to keep her pretty busy.
“What I like about Locks of Love is, it’s a way to give and to help people when you don’t have the time or the money to volunteer somewhere,” she said.
A quote from St. Jude’s Hospital founder Danny Thomas takes it a step farther: “Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain or accomplish for yourself. It is what you do for others.”
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