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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 23, 2017 | 16 SEND US YOUR NEWS: If you are a youth and have a story or photo to share, we'll do our best to publish it on this page. Email it to ablackburn@ oakviUebeaver.com, along with your name and a brief paragraph about w h y you want to share it with our readers. Students invited to donate hair in RockVbur Locks by Abigail Cukier Special to the Beaver Having hair is something you may not think about very much -- until you don' t have it any more. This was part of the message Kimberley Coughlin delivered at five assemblies at schools in Oakville to teach students about hair donation for wom en and children undergoing cancer treatment. The assemblies were an in troduction to the inaugural Rock Your Locks event. Stu dents and family members from Pine Grove, Eastview, Brookdale, Morden, Gladys Speers and Oakwood public el ementary schools are being in vited to donate eight inches of hair toward making wigs made of real hair. The event will be held at T.A. Blakelock High School today (Thursday, March 23). Coughlin, whose daughter Madison is in Grade 1 at Pine Grove, had neurosurgery in June 2016 and, as a result, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Most of a tumour she had was removed and Coughlin has since been having follow up treatment of radiation and chemotherapy. Her head was shaved for surgery and she lost hair during radiation treat ment. During the assemblies, Coughlin showed videos of children donating hair, as well as recipients of the wigs. "Seeing how it doesn' t look like a wig, they see that some body has donated their own hair so I can have hair on my With Kimberley Coughlin, right, is, from left, Rupal Hagerman, co-chair of Pine Grove school council, Sharon Dorsett from The Design Crew, and Asha Hagerman, first Rock Your Locks donor. | submitted photo head. They got it. That was the power of telling the story," she said. "I didn' t focus on cancer but on losing your hair and the impact it has. I could see the girls holding on to their braids. They were able to make the connection of what it really meant. "There was a lineup of kids who wanted to donate their hair. It was very powerful." The idea for Rock Your Locks came after Rupal Hager- man, co-chair of Pine Grove school council, heard about students who'd donated hair. "I thought it is silly for ev eryone to go on their own to do it. And some parents are so busy that even if they wanted to, they don' t have time to take them," she said. "I thought, what if we do all the work for them. Find out all the requirements and set it up so they can come and get it done at no cost. It is also a way to bring the community together." Hair donations will go to Pantene Beautiful Lengths and 360 Hair. Pantene Beauti ful Lengths provides free hair wigs to women, while 360 Hair gives to girls 19 and younger. 360 Hair also takes coloured and grey hair. Hairstylists from The Design Crew on Kerr Street and Rain bow Expressions in Bronte will help out at the event. Hagerman will have her hair cut, along with Halton District School Board trustee Tracey Ehl Harrison. Rock Your Locks takes place from 4-8 p.m. For information, email rockyourlocksoakville@ gmail.com. CORRECTION: This story appeared in the Friday, March 17, 2017 Oakville Beaver with incorrect information. Kimberley Coughlin was diagnosed with brain cancer. Coughlin, not her daughter Madison, has been having fol low-up treatment. The Beaver apologizes for the error and any inconve nience it may have caused. 5· · 1S T A P t f S m o re h a p p e n s BLAZER Dorval Crossin Over 6 0 Shops & Services located at the QEW & Dorval Drive Visit d o rv a lcro ssin g .co m for more information PROUDLY MANAGED BY Bentall Kennedy