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27 cm / 10 in

On my way back home one day last week, my mom told me a very sad story: a friend of hers from highschool, one of her very best friends, was going to go through her second chemotherapy session on that very moment - breast cancer. Terrible news, and scary, too, because it could have been my mom. Or me. So I informed Honey that I would not be going home for lunch, and changed my plans and my schedule - something that the very German me does not do easily. I decided I would help her. Instead of going home, I went to the hairdresser and cut 27 cm (a little over 10 in) of hair.

That was my hair. I had let it grow out for a little over a year.

I cut off 27 cm! That's a little over 10 inches in American.

A friend of mine had recently told me about Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that helps people with hair-situations due to chemo. I looked into a similar possibility in Germany and upon finding none, decided I would mail my hair to the LOL people.

I was going to make an anonymous, selfless doantion. I was counting my blessings in how many people I know that DON'T have cancer. Sadly, my counting was interrupted by my mom's friend. I will make my donation on her behalf. I have no idea if she'll actually get my hair, or who will eventually get my hair, or if my hair will be viable (though I did follow all the instructions). I don't know if she will live. I don't know if this "matters" or helps at all.

But it's the only thing I can do from over here. I have no money to donate, I don't run in marathons, I have no time to be there holding her hand (geographical time, I mean), and I want to do something more than just send a sympathetic email and a couple of nice BBMs. I want to do something. And not just for her - I want to do something. I want to actively participate in this fight against cancer. No more cancer, for anyone. Not even for Hugo Chavez, no, not even for evil people like him. I want to do my share in showing God and the World that I think cancer sucks!

I still don't know if that helps. I still don't know if that meant anything. I don't know.

But I do know that I would very much appreciate it if some random person somewhere in the world cut off 27 cm of her hair to help out my mom. Or me.

So I did.

I now look blonder, fatter and older. But that's ok. It will grow back. And when it does, I'll cut it and donate it again.



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