Autism diagnosis inspires Zoe to donate her long locks to charity while raising almost €600
Zoe McCarthy from the Royal Oak, Bagenalstown had her beautiful long hair cut in aid of AsIAm and donated her hair to The Little Princess Trust, She had her hair cut by stylist Pauly Kavanagh at Peter Mark Carlow Photo: © Michael O'Rourke Photography
“IT is hard. You feel like you’re very different to all the other kids,” said Zoe McCarthy (9) of how she feels about her recent autism diagnosis.
Despite this, she wanted “to help a little kid who has a special need like autism and if that person needs hair, I will donate it to her.” As a way of raising money for AsIAm, the national autism charity, Zoe decided to cut off her long locks that she had been growing for four or five years. She hoped her new haircut would be short, but long enough to do a space bun hairstyle.
So far, she has raised €585.
“It’s an ideal charity for Zoe because she wants to be happy and respected as she is,” said her mother, Clare.
Zoe’s last haircut was when her twin sister, Lily, took a hairdressing game “too literally” and cut off one of her pigtails. She has been growing her hair back ever since and it now reaches down past her back.
The two girls attend Ballinabranna National School and have a younger sister Isabella (5) who sometimes pulls Zoe’s long hair.
Last year, Lily cut off her own hair to donate to a young girl with cancer and raised money for the Little Princess Trust, Marie Curie Hospice and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Peter Marks hair salon took “good care of her” during the process, said Clare.
Zoe, the twin born one minute earlier, envied the way her sister got to “feel special” by donating her hair. “Now I get to do it, too, and feel special about it,” she said.
Her two sisters and parents Clare and Shane McCarthy attended the ceremonial hairdressing appointment wearing t-shirts sent by AsIAm in support of the fundraiser.
As for her recent diagnosis of autism, Zoe “is doing really well,” said Clare. Trained as a teacher but on a career break, Clare decided to do some substitute teaching at Saplings School to learn more about how to support children with autism.
“You just need more help,” explained Zoe. “It’s hard because when you have meltdowns, it’s worse than regular meltdowns with no autism. If I’m in the car and I have an autistic meltdown, then I might need my mum to help me.” Yet even still, the nine-year-old counts herself “lucky” because, next year, the school principal has arranged for her to use a laptop in school.
