»Strangers to cancer can learn life lessons from those who have it Column, A2
FAIRFIELD TWP. — It all started with a 7-year-old asking her mom, recently diagnosed with cancer, to dye her hair pink. She wanted her to do so before losing it after chemotherapy treatments.
The child’s vision led children, adults and even a dog to dye a chunk of their hair pink or teal and donate to buy wigs for cancer patients. Thousands of dollars were raised in just a few weeks.
On March 1, Tracey Stone, 36, sat down and told her children, Lily, 7, and Riley, 5, that she has Stage 3 ovarian cancer.
“I asked my mom if she could get her hair pink and she said ‘yes,’ because it’s going to fall out soon,” Lily said.
Tracey agreed to having a pink stripe put in her hair — a compromise to Lily’s initial request of dying her entire head pink.
With the funky colors and a new haircut, the mother and daughter went to pick out a wig for Tracey, knowing she’d soon be losing her hair. Shocked to find wigs could cost $2,000, Tracey was thankful to a friend who had said she’d pay for it, telling Tracey she wanted to bless her.
Lily, witnessing the friend’s kindness, asked her mom, “What about the people who come in here and can’t afford it?”
“I felt sad,” Lily said. “People come in and they can’t get a wig. I asked my mom if I could have a fundraiser.”
Lily realized if she could get 100 people to donate $20, she’d be able to buy someone a wig. So the Stone family planned to have around 50 guests to their home that Friday, and for a $20 donation, they could have a piece of their hair dyed pink or teal — pink for Lily’s favorite color, or teal to represent ovarian cancer.
But the event “ballooned out of control,” with RSVPs seeming endless. Leah Ivy, a friend of Tracey’s who had dyed Tracey’s hair pink, asked her employer, Master’s Touch Salon, to open its doors for the fundraiser, named “Lily’s Locks.”
On April 8, more than 300 people visited the salon and had their hair colored. Vendors donated food and drinks, and stylists donated their time. Lily’s classmates, and even her teacher at Fairfield North, Teresa Plaugher, now have pink or teal stripes in their hair.
“Anytime we can serve, we do it,” Ivy said. “I think it’s pretty amazing, the money that we raised in 5 1/2 hours. The goal for one wig turned into more.”
T-shirts, which they are selling for $15, have been designed for Lily’s Locks, and orders for the shirts have been coming in from as far as Taiwan, Tracey said.
As of April 22, Lily had raised $12,000, and will be able to buy wigs for six people. Lily and Tracey helped the first recipient pick out a wig, only two days before Tracey started her chemotherapy treatments Monday. They anticipate another fundraiser this summer.
Tracey is confident she’ll win her battle with cancer, just as her husband, 36-year-old Ricky Stone, beat brain cancer.
“We fully believe my husband has been healed. This is all just part of the journey,” she said.
Ricky Stone is a former Major League Baseball player who was a standout athlete at Hamilton High School.
As for Lily, it doesn’t come as any shock to Tracey that she wants to bless others with a wig.
“She has always had a big heart. She is an amazing little girl. She loves the Lord and just wants to bless other people. Does it surprise me? No,” Tracey said.
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