Helping Hair: local with cerebral palsy donates hair to Locks of Love

ANTIGO — When Susan Layton’s daughter Hanna was four years old, she donated her hair to Locks of Love, the organization which, of course, provides wigs to kids who have suffered hair loss due to medical conditions like cancer.

Over 20 years have passed since then, but Susan returned to a hair salon last week for exactly the same reason: to accompany a daughter donating hair to Locks of Love.

This time, though, it was her younger daughter Tresa who did the donating.

According to Susan, for Tresa, who is now 24, the act holds a special significance for one key reason: she has cerebral palsy.

“She’s doing it so other kids can have hair. It’s so other kids don’t have to be sad. If they have cancer, this could help,” Susan said. “And she knows all about pain.”

From Tresa’s entry into the world, this seems to have been true. Susan went into labor with her three and a half months early — she said she still remembers medical personnel in a Flight for Life helicopter that flew them to the hospital in Marshfield shouting, “I don’t think they’re going to make it.” Though both did make it, all the blood Susan lost on the helicopter likely caused Tresa brain damage and the resulting loss of muscle function that typifies cerebral palsy. To this day, her speech is limited. She can’t walk at all. At just eight years old, so severe was her scoliosis that she had a nine inch rod implanted into her back to keep it straight.

Despite Tresa’s physical constraints, her mother described her as a “happy-go-lucky” girl.

“She seems to be happy. There’s moments when she doesn’t like it, but for the most part, she’s OK with it,” Susan said. “She’s a weather girl — when the weather changes, she can tell because of that rod three days ahead of time. Wednesday she’ll say her bones hurt and stuff like that, and by Friday we get the storm.”

Though shy Tuesday while Today’s Hair stylist Carressa Husnick began cutting, afterwards with her new bob haircut, Tresa smiled as she glanced at her reflection.

“I think she’s going to have a little bit of wave under here,” Husnick said, examining her work.

“She looks much older,” Susan said.

“How you feeling, Tresa?” Husnick said. “Do you like it? You look like a brand-new girl!”

Now, presumably, Tresa’s donation to Locks of Love may contribute to others looking like brand new children as well. According to Husnick, donations of natural, undyed hair such as Tresa’s go a long way towards helping kids without it feel more normal.

“With synthetic hair for kids, you can tell a lot of times that it is fake, depending on the wigs that you get. With human hair, they can style their kids’ hair, they can curl it with a curling iron, they can put it in a ponytail. That way, it makes them feel like the other kids,” Husnick said. “Hair is a big thing. That’s one of the first things you see when you see a person. So for these children to be able to get a wig that’s made of human hair is so special.”

Susan said this was exactly what her daughter wanted.

“Last night when we were praying, I said, ‘Dear Jesus, we’re going to the shop tomorrow and we’re going to get Tresa’s hair cut because there’s other people that have cancer and can’t have hair. So we’re going to donate your hair, Tresa, OK?’ And she said, ‘OK.’ She wants to make someone happy — that’s all she wants.”