A Ladysmith boy who grew out his hair for two years has donated it to make wigs for kids. Skye Ryan reports.
A 10-year-old Ladysmith boy whose braved teasing and often being confused for a girl says he’d do it all over again, after growing his hair so long that it can now be made into a wig for children with cancer.
Carter Puska started growing his hair out two years ago at seven-years-old. He said he has often been mistaken for a girl.
“I just shook it off,” Puska said.
“I didn’t really care.”
But Puska’s friend Ryan Christenson noted: “I thought it was pretty amazing.
Puska said the idea came after his mom shaved his head bald by accident.
“Then my sister said I wanna grow my hair for cancer so I wanted to try too, Puska said.
“That’s how this got started.”
Now from the back, you can barely tell him apart from his sister as they both grew out their hair to be made into wigs for kids with cancer.
“He’s a good kid yeah,” Puska’s father Ted said.
“At the store, he’d have older people say ‘Hey honey, hey sweetie.’ We’d look at each other and shrug our shoulders and say, well have a good day.”
The hair isn’t all he’s donating to kids with cancer.
“I raised over $4000,” Puska said proudly.
Donations poured in when word got out about Carter growing his hair to make a wig for kids with cancer.
John Neil donated the most,$500, giving him the prize of cutting Carter’s hair at his 10th birthday party.
“It’s building character and he’s a strong little individual for doing that,” Neil said.
As for the hair that’s about to be chopped off in a matter of hours, Carter said he won’t miss it, though it’s given him a new perspective on the ladies in his life.
“Brushing the hair I hate and I have to shower way longer,” Puska said.
Skye Ryan
