Aaron Noble reminds his daughter that they are both bald now after Thalia, 9, had her hair cut off to donate to Wigs for Kids. Mother Jillian shares the moment at Great Clips Salon in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Because she was going to lose her hair to brain surgery, Thalia decided to donate her hair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)Thalia Noble’s hair is cut off in 12-inch, braided lengths for donation to Wigs for Kids in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)As her grandmother Sue Noble, left, and her father Aaron Noble take photos, Thalia Noble, 9, has her hair cut off by Leslie Haws of Great Clips Salon in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Because Thalia, 9, was going to lose her hair to brain surgery, she decided to donate her hair to Wigs for Kids. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)Thalia Noble, 9, has her hair cut off at Great Clip Salon in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Because Thalia, 9, was going to lose her hair to brain surgery, she decided to donate her hair to Wigs for Kids. The hair cut off in braids of 12 inches for donation. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)Thalia Noble, 9, walks into Great Clips salon with her father, Aaron, not far behind in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Thalia was there to have her hair cut off to donate to Wigs for Kids. She was going to lose her hair anyway because of brain surgery. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)Jillian Noble, right, gives her daughter Thalia a kiss after she had her hair cut off in Santa Ana on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Thalia, 9, who was going to lose her hair because of brain surgery, is donating her hair to Wigs for Kids.(Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)Show Caption of Expand
SANTA ANA – For Thalia Noble, losing her beautiful long locks is not a big deal. What is a big deal is that some other child will be able to wear her hair, style her hair, play, and take confidence from having a long, thick, brown mane.
Thalia, 9, undergoes cranial surgery on Monday, Jan. 8, and was about to have her hair shorn anyway. So the girl and her family donated the 14 inches in the past 23 months since her last surgery to a charity that provides hair pieces for children with hair loss.
Thalia has myriad deficiencies that have plagued her since birth. They have caused intellectual disability, strokes and coma, have required three heart surgeries and now an eighth brain surgery. They have taken an enormous toll, but what they have not taken in her short life is her infectious personality.
“When she walks in a room, everyone falls in love,” said Thalia’s mother, Jillian Noble, 39, from Costa Mesa.
Thalia has been hospitalized 41 times, but her next procedure, a cranial expansion to allow her brain room to grow, had been scheduled well in advance. In that time, she has grown a luxurious head of hair.
Making donation
It was her uncle, Joel Noble, who came up with the idea of the donation after a visit to Great Clips in Santa Ana, where stylist Leslie Haws takes care of his hair.
“Great Clips donates hair all the time,” Haws said of the company, which set everything up for the Nobles.
So, on Saturday, the family went on a field trip. Thalia, wearing a floral dress with a long-sleeved t-shirt and leggings, strode into the salon like she owned the joint.
Haws did the honors, first braiding the girl’s hair into the long lengths and cutting them off, then shearing off the rest.
Throughout the event, the Nobles kept things upbeat and positive.
“This is going to be a tough surgery,” Jillian Noble said, “so it was nice to have something positive to turn it around.”
During the braiding process, Joel Noble, noticed a resemblance to rapper Coolio and brought up an image of the rapper to show his niece and the others.
After Thalia’s hair was cut off, her dad, Aaron Noble, 40, stuck his head next to Thalia’s to show her they were both bald.
“She looks like her dad,” Jillian Noble said. “I told our boys they should get shaved, too. They said, ‘We don’t want to look like Dad.’”
Jillian Noble said she and her family often see the children without hair at the hospital and wanted to do something for them.
Haws, a 30-year professional hair stylist, has participated in similar hair cutting events and said it is “fulfilling.”
“I’m a cancer survivor myself, so giving back is important,” Haws said.
Haws temporarily lost her hair and only wore wigs when she worried how other might react, but she understands the experience can be different for children.
“I’m sure some of the kids are self-conscious and this makes them feel better,” she said.
While several media outlets and cameras milled around, Thalia Noble, happily munched on snacks and enjoyed the attention.
Hair for kids
The hair was donated to Wigs for Kids, an Ohio-based charity that donates more than 100 wigs annually mostly for children who have lost their hair due to medical conditions. The organization was created by hair stylist Jeffrey Paul, who crafted the first wig for his niece – who lost her hair due to leukemia – so she could have hair when she competed in a gymnastic meet.
Since then, Wigs For Kids has handcrafted thousands of hairpieces to children who have lost hair due to chemotherapy, radiation, alopecia, burns and other conditions and circumstances.
Each wig, which costs more than $1,500 to create, consists of more than 150,000 strands of human hair from 15 – 20 donors tied to a form fitting cap that allows the wearer to engage in healthy activities.
“It really becomes a part of them,” Paul said in a video clip for his charity.” It’s no longer becomes a wig.”
Wigs for Kids is among a number of similar groups including, Hair We Share, Locks of Love, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, Children With Hair Loss, Childhood Leukemia Foundation and Wigs 4 Kids, that provide hairpieces for children and adults with hair loss.
Long road ahead
Jillian Noble said her daughter faces a long struggle ahead with the cranial expansion, which will be a six-month process, led by William Louden, a noted pediatric neurosurgeon, who Jillian Noble says has saved her daughter’s life three times
Jillian Noble said the family can’t really afford to live in Southern California, where they manage a small in-home business. But they stay because nowhere else would they have access to surgeons such as Louden and the team at Children’s Hospital Orange County, they said.
An account has been set up to cover the family’s continuing medical costs at gofundme.com/thaliasbrainsurgery
“We just can’t do it by ourselves,” Noble said.
On Sunday as the family spent the day together before the surgery, Thalia and her father danced to a music video.
Watching Thalia dance, Jillian said, “Through it all, she’s just the happiest child.”
Source: Oc Register
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