A Buffalo mother and her six young sons grew a combined five metres of hair that they cut and donated to make wigs for kids who have lost their own hair due to illness.
Phoebe Kannisto says she’s been donating her locks to charity since she was a teenager.
But when a family friend lost a son to cancer three years ago, her three oldest sons started growing their hair. They donated it on the first anniversary of the boy’s death.
Her triplets were only three at the time but they wanted to get involved too.
“So we all decided we would donate together and we were just waiting for everybody’s hair to be long enough,” she told CTV News Channel Monday.
She said people don’t recognize them now that their hair has been cut.
“We are known for our long-haired boys and they do not have long hair anymore.”
In a post to Facebook, Kannisto said her sons’ long hair had lead them to being “picked on and teased by everyone from their peers, to grown adults but they didn't let that stop them. They had a goal and stuck to it.”
Ten-year-old Andre Kannisto said it was fun to get his hair cut with his mom and brothers. The triplets were a little nervous about their first haircut, says their mom, but that soon turned to excitement.
“It was a really amazing experience,” said Kannisto. She expects it will become a regular practice for the family, especially since her two-year-old daughter wants in on the action.
“She desperately wanted to hop up in the salon chair and have her hair donated but it was not long enough. So we’re going to keep growing out and hopefully next time all seven kids can do it together.”
