Teenager donates hair after sister's chemotherapy

14 December 2025

Tanya GuptaWest Midlands

News image — Ellie donated her hair after watching her sister go through treatment

Family A selfie shows Ellie (left) on a beach with her younger sister Emilia (right). They are wearing summer dresses on a sunny day and the sand and sea are behind them. — Ellie donated her hair after watching her sister go through treatment

A teenager who watched her younger sister go through chemotherapy and lose her hair has donated her own locks to help others.

Ellie, 13, from Redditch, loved having long hair but wanted to do something to help other children, so she cut hers for The Little Princess Trust, which provides wigs to children with cancer.

Her sister, Emilia, had treatment for the blood disorder aplastic anaemia when she was five.

She went on to have chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant and now aged seven, she is back at school full-time.

Family Ellie and Emilia are hugging as they are reunited in hospital after a long time apart. They are lying on Emilia's hospital bed with their arms around each other. Emilia is looking happy to be back with her big sister. — One of the most touching moments was when the sisters were reunited, their father said

Emilia's treatment involved spending many weeks in isolation, both at Birmingham Children's Hospital and at home.

Her father James said it was upsetting for both girls when they could not see each other, because Emilia was completely isolated.

"Emilia's white blood cells got to a point when Ellie could visit and she went the moment she could," he said.

"One of the most touching moments was when those two just hugged."

Born five years apart, the pair were "very much big sister, little sister", he said.

Family Ellie sits on a hospital bed with her little sister Emilia. Emilia is going through chemotherapy and has lost her hair. A table is beside them with a bottle of water and other drinks. They are playing a game together. There is hospital equipment all around them. — It had been upsetting for both girls to be apart while Emilia was in isolation

James said Emilia still recoiled when she saw pictures of herself without hair, adding: "She disassociated and said 'that's not me'."

Since her treatment, Emilia's hair had grown back, he said.

But he said Ellie had seen the difference the wig made to her sister and wanted to help.

"Ellie has got a big thing about her hair," he said. "She always had really, really long hair. With little girls, their identity is their hair. It was quite a lot she cut off to give away. It was a big thing for her."

Family Emilia is reading a greetings card that says "feel better" on the front. She is wearing her long blonde wig from The Little Princess Trust and has an Alice band with cat ears on it. She has a tube to her nose which is taped to her face as she undergoes treatment. — The wig from Little Princess Trust transformed Emilia's confidence and self-esteem

James said life was now back to normal, adding: "Children are so resilient. They are back to fighting and back to arguing."

He said the family had support from several charities including Little Princess Trust, the blood cancer charity DKMS and the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust in Worcester.

He and his wife Steph were grateful to them all, he said, and now wanted to give back and raise awareness of the need for stem cell donors and for people to sign the stem cell register.

Ellie chopped her hair in the summer and it is now back down to her shoulders.

James said she would let it grow again - after which there may be another conversation.

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