Bye, bye, ponytail!

October has come and it is now Breast Cancer Awareness month. During the summer one of my close friends here was diagnosed with breast cancer in the US while having her first mammogram. She stayed back in the US for treatment and just returned to Shanghai in October.

 

We wanted to do something nice for her when she came back, so we left a basket of goodies and a welcome home sign for her. There is an event called, More than Aware, which is a fundraiser for breast cancer with the proceeds going to Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club. Anyways, we bought a table worth of tickets (10) and one for our friend to all go together to the event in support of her. I then took it a step further and now am working with the event in their fundraising efforts and getting donations in honor of my friend to give to the event.

 

One of events for the month was a 'Pledge your Ponytail' in which you had to cut off at least 6 inches of hair to be donated for wigs.

 

I saw that 2 of my friends had signed up for it so I asked Rilynn if she would be interested. I explained it to her in simple terms: how people get sick, that the medicine they take in order to get better may make their hair fall out, and what some people can do to help is to donate their long hair to be made into wigs for them. I told her it was her decision and her hair and she could think about it.

Within a minute she came out and said yes, she would like to donate her pony. She then explained to me that there are kids who probably get teased for not having any hair and she would like to help them!

 

So today was the big day of the cut. She was very excited! It was a lot bigger event that I thought. They had all 15 ladies donating up on the stage for the first cut and then brought back to the salon for the finishing style. Then they came back to the stage and were presented with gifts and a certificate of participation.

 

Before

 

Her new do!

 

There were 15 ladies so they had 3 groups of 5 at a time each with their own stylist

 

 

Not quite sure why Rilynn didn't the ponytail chopped off like everyone else, but he took his sweet time :)

 

 

6 inches in the bag!

 

The lady in charge of the Shanghai Cancer Recovery Club

 

Going to the salon to finish up

 

First time seeing it :) She really liked it!

 

 

 

 All done!

 

Rec'd her certificate of participation

 

The group of ladies showing off their new do's!

 

She is such a sweet girl and I love her so much!! She definitely made me one proud mommy today :)

 

 During my fundraising efforts I came across a lady who makes wedding dresses and scarves. She thought our group of friends were such a great story on 'sisterhood' and asked if we would be willing to get together with her for a photoshoot. So unbelievably, we were able to 9 of us together in 2 days and made it work. Was definitely different being on the other side of the camera for once! LOL

 

It was such an emotional day though. We had so much fun! However, tears were shed, as it was such a powerful day and it also made me realize how much I am going to miss my incredible friends

here :(We have so much love between us and they will always have a special place in my heart!!!

 

Here was one of the pics :)