Jack Mousseau has long hair, but he's about to lose it for a couple of good causes.
The 12-year-old is in Grade 7 in Ms. Simpson-Malek’s class at Mapleridge Public School in Powassan, and has decided to shave his head for The Terry Fox Run.
The school has a goal of reaching $1,000 and Jack and his family have a goal to try to raise as much as they possibly can to add to that total.
His hair is also long enough that it will be donated to Locks of love, an organization whose mission is to "return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children free of charge."
"I’m so proud of him for his choice to do this," his mother Carisa told BayToday. "He’s been growing his hair out a long time (two years) in order to donate to Locks of love. The cut will be happening at school Thursday the 22nd."
When talk of the Terry fox Run started, Carisa contacted Pat Froud, a long-time family friend who is a hairdresser.
"When I told her the cause, she was happy to come to the school and make sure the braids are kept for donation to Locks of Love, as she said this cause is dear to her heart."
The school is hoping to raise $1,000, and Jack would like to match that as well.
"I think we have all been touched by cancer," added Carisa. "For our family, it was several of Jack's great grandparents. Luckily his great grandma Ev Smith fought and beat breast cancer and lived to be 100. We have had friends who fought cancer and weren’t so lucky."
The Mousseaus had a visitor on the weekend that was so pleased with what Jack was doing that she came to their house to give a donation and write a lovely note explaining why the donation, and who it was in memory of.
"I think that was when Jack realized how much of an impact this has on people's lives. He looked at me and said this is a big deal, isn’t it? said Carisa. "It’s been such an amazing experience for Jack to see how much people care about this cause and how proud they are of him."
She asked him why he had decided to take this action.
"I hope the money can be donated so we can know more about cancer and people won’t have to go through what Terry Fox and others have had to do.”
You can help Jack out by donating here.
