The Lions Club of Riffa (LCOR) has launched a kingdom-wide hair-cutting campaign with the aim of snipping and collecting 1,000 inches of tresses to transform into wigs for children and young adults undergoing cancer treatment.
The Crown of Care project came about by Anjali Gupta who empathised with the trauma that her loved ones and others experienced from hair loss through cancer treatment.
The 51-year-old former banker and now a self-employed freelance recruiter, living in Budaiya, said “My mother was a cancer patient and passed away in 2012. My mother-in-law is a cancer survivor and lives with us in Bahrain. I have closely experienced the trauma; pain and suffering the cancer patients go through during their treatment.
“Hair loss resulting from side effects of chemotherapy is a devastating experience and causes a big loss in the self-confidence for women and children, specifically.
“I came to know about certain organisations that make wigs for cancer patients. In 2018, I donated my hair in India and in 2019 I found that Beauty Spot Salon & Spa in Bahrain cut hair for free and donated it to the Little Princess Trust in UK which produces wigs for children undergoing cancer treatment.
“In October 2019, I donated my hair through that salon as it was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It was my personal decision.”
After her hair donation, she attended the next club meeting where one of the other members and president of the ladies’ Lions group Lion Tosin suggested motivating other women in Bahrain by starting a hair donation campaign.
Moved by the idea, and knowing she had the backing of LCOR’s Riffa Lion Debashis president as well as other board members, she set out to spearhead the campaign.
Her aim and that of LCOR’s is to donate a total of 1,000 inches to be sent to the Little Princess Trust by World Cancer Day on February 4.
The Little Princess Trust provides free real hair wigs to children and young people, up to 24 years, who have lost their hair through cancer treatment or other conditions.
