Six-year-old, Ava, donates 12 inches of hair in charity fundraiser  

Derry girl, Ava Traynor, decided for her 6th birthday that she wanted to donate her hair and help raise money for the Little Princess Trust. 

The selfless youngster has since donated 12 inches of hair to the charity which will help create wigs for children in need.

 Her family said they are incredibly proud of Ava for using her own birthday to raise money and help other children. Ava even decided to have her birthday cake made with the charity’s colours.

 Her proud mum, Becky McEvoy, said: “The idea came about by me explaining to her that there are children who don't have any hair due to different types of sicknesses and their treatments. 

“I then showed her The Little Princess Trust’s Instagram posts and she automatically said 'Mammy, can I do that? I want to help boys and girls have beautiful hair like mine.’ 

“Of course, it was no surprise to me, her daddy and the rest of our family. Ava is such a loving, kind and caring little girl that it is just in her nature to help others.  

“Ava was due to have her hair trimmed when I spoke to her about it so she already had about nine inches of donatable hair but we hoped that Ava would have 10-12 inches as she had only decided in the August and her birthday was on November 6.

“My sister, Ava’s aunty Cheryl, set up a Just Giving page to raise money for the charity and we had originally set a target of £500 to help the charity with the cost of turning Ava’s hair into a wig for a young person.” 

Ava has since smashed this target and has raised over £1000 between the fundraising page and cash donations from family, friends, her primary school and Irish dancing school.  

Becky continued: “We asked Courtney, at local hairdressers, Hair by CC, to cut Ava’s hair the day after her birthday. 

“Once Courtney had cut Ava’s hair, she jumped up to go look in the mirror and check out her new hairstyle and of course loved it. 

“Every morning she gets up and looks in the mirror and says 'Mammy, I just love my new hair'.  

“As her Mammy, I am incredibly proud of Ava, so is her daddy and the rest of her family. Ava is just an inspiration to everyone. 

“We can't thank everyone enough who was able to donate to help her help a young person feel like themselves again. 

“Ava has a younger brother who is ten months old and we can't wait until he grows up a bit so we can explain to him how incredible his big sister is.”