THUNDER BAY -- By the time Alex Haapa-aho was eight, he’d lost both his grandfather’s to cancer.
At the second funeral his mother insisted he get a haircut.
But the youngster refused, instead seeing an opportunity to raise money for the disease that had taken his parents’ parents far too young.
For more than a year he grew his hair, all the while raising money online for cancer research.
Last Friday, on his ninth birthday, having collected more than $10,200 for the Northern Cancer Fund, he shaved the flowing blond locks, collecting the hair, which will be used to make wigs for cancer patients going through chemotherapy.
“It makes me feel very proud because I have raised so much money,” Alex said, about 40 of his friends and family having watched his head being shaved at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
“A lot of people are suffering from cancer and both of my grandfathers too.”
His mother, Jennifer Sigus, said she couldn’t be more proud of her son.
“I can’t believe it’s gone as far as it has,” she said. “We had a humble beginning. Five dump-trucks full of money is what he wanted to raise. I said we had to put that into a monetary value we could actually achieve and we ended up with $1,500.
“We were happy just to have that. For it to snowball this far, we could never have imagined it. And our family has seen exactly where the money goes.”
Hospital spokeswoman Heather Vita said donations like this are vital to fundraising efforts.
“They significantly help. We have more than 100 of these types of events that happen every year that people take their own time, their own effort to put into them. Certainly every dollar they raise goes right back into our community,” Vita said. “It stays here. It funds essential equipment within our hospital and anytime anyone wants to do something like that, we’re really grateful.”
