AN appeal has been launched to raise £2,000 so a teenager from Frenchay who is fighting cancer can replace her hair – and regain her confidence.
Meadow Ferns, who is 13, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the end of last November and started chemotherapy within days.
Mum Sarah said Meadow spent 52 days straight in Bristol Children’s Hospital.
While there she suffered a lumbar puncture leak, where fluid escaped from her spinal column after part of her treatment, confining her to her bed for four weeks.
She also had to be treated for a mass, or growth, on her lung, kidney failure and a collapsed heart valve.
Sarah said her daughter had “been through hell”, adding: “We thought we were going to lose her.”
She praised the “amazing, absolutely fabulous” staff on the hospital’s Apollo 35 ward for their care and treatment.
But the loss of her hair during chemo has affected Meadow (pictured above with Sarah and their dog, Ziggy), who has autism, psychologically.
The former pupil of St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School in Downend has been given a wig provided by charity Young Lives vs Cancer.
But Sarah said her daughter, now a pupil of Sir Bernard Lovell Academy in Oldland Common, is anxious that the wig could be pulled or fall off, and as a result she is unwilling to go out.
‘Her hair is her shield’
She said: “Her hair is her shield, it’s her armour. She had beautiful long fair locks before her treatment.”
Sarah has found an alternative to a wig called Intralace, which involves using a breathable mesh to combine Meadow’s existing hair with additional human hair, disguising her hair loss.
But it is only available privately and costs almost £2,000.
Sarah, who works as a school administrator, has launched an online fundraiser to help find the money.
She said: “I’ve had to cut my hours to part-time, so I can be with Meadow.
“It’s such a lot of money, but this is what’s going to get her back into school, back into society – she’s very isolated at the moment.”
Meadow said: “It would mean I’m more confident and I would feel like myself.
“I know it’s nothing to be embarrassed about, but it doesn’t make you feel very proud of yourself when you’re wearing a wig – you feel like you’re hiding underneath it.
“When I do get my hair back I’m going to absolutely cherish it – you don’t know how much it means to you until it’s gone.
“I wish I could have it back, but this is the second-best thing until it does grow back.”
Donations to the appeal can be made online at gofund.me/46f84bfd.