By Danielle Kutchel
While some people cut their hair with flair for fashion, Aminah decided to use her new ‘do for a more worthy cause.
The 10-year-old Dandenong North Primary School student underwent the chop at school on Friday 30 August, cutting off 26cm of hair to raise funds for her chosen charity, Cancer Council Victoria.
The cut took place against a background of symbolic coloured balloons: yellow to represent hope, and green to represent a new beginning.
About 65 percent of cancer patients who have chemotherapy treatment will experience hair loss, according to Aminah’s fundraising website.
At time of writing, she had raised more than $5000 for the charity. This means Aminah is ranked sixth amongst the top individual fundraisers for Cancer Council Victoria’s ‘I Will for Cancer’ campaign, which encouraged fundraisers to go wild with their hair to raise money for the cause.
According to her parents, Meliha Colakoglu and Bilal Haneef, Aminah chose to raise funds for Cancer Council Victoria because many people are suffering and are affected by this deadly disease.
By raising awareness, she aims to send a message to people affected by cancer, that people do care and are willing to take the extra step to show that they do.
Aminah hopes the funds she has raised will help the Cancer Council to achieve their mission of preventing cancer, empowering patients and saving lives – and even one day finding a cure for cancer.
“We are very proud of our daughter Aminah’s dedication and commitment to this special cause and her contribution to the creation of hope,” her parents said.
“As her parents, we believe that Aminah’s experience … will encourage other young adolescents to raise awareness and funds for the creation of hope.”
Cancer Council Victoria estimates 145,000 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Australia in 2019, with that number set to rise to 150,000 by 2020.
Cancer is a leading cause of death in Australia – the charity estimates almost 50,000 deaths from cancer will occur in 2019.
Aminah is still accepting donations via her website, shave.everydayhero.com/au/chop-the-locks-with-aminah.
