McCormick gives to Locks of Love
December 16, 2003 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin women's openweight rower Malika McCormick is truly in the giving spirit this Holiday season. McCormick, a UW junior, recently cut 11 inches of her hair and donated it to Locks of Love.
Locks of Love (LOL) is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss. The organization uses donated hair to create hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. It usuallytakes about six to 10 ponytails of at least 10 inches to make one hair piece.
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body. The disease affects approximately 1.7 percent of the overall population, including more than 4.7 million people in the United States.
The number of hairpieces produced has increased significantly since its inception in December of 1997, from 21 the first year to over 1,000. LOL has recipients in all 50 states and Canada and is working towards its goal to help every financially disadvantaged child suffering from long-term hair loss. Over 2,000 hair donations are received through the mail each week. 80% of our hair donors are children.
'That was the longest I've had my hair and now this is the shortest I've had my hair', said McCormick.
McCormick was first inspired to donate her hair at the end of her novice season. Her fellow teammate Beth Redfearn had just cut her hair and McCormick decided that she would grow hers out and donate also. Two years and eleven inches later, Malika accomplished her goal. Colleen Gosa, another junior on the women's rowing team, cut her hair in the beginning of the rowing season in order to donate to Locks of Love.
For more information, visit http://www.locksoflove.org/
