ROGERS : Long locks lost for a good cause at LPGA event
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/230354/
ROGERS — It took Laureen Benafield several seconds to work a pair of black-handled scissors through her daughter’s left ponytail.
With each attempt to close the shears, 8-year-old Anna Claire Benafield’s worried grimace became more pronounced.
The girl tried turning her head to watch the progress, knocking away a ponytail binder marking the small area where her mother was to trim away the 8 inches of gathered hair.
As soon as the hair was cut, Anna Claire swept her hand through her jagged bob, smiling.
Nineteen other women and girls sat in chairs on either side of Anna Claire, simultaneously shedding their locks Wednesday night on the back patio of Pinnacle Country Club.
The Pantene B eautiful Lengths event, which will create wigs for women living with cancer, was part of the day’s LPGA tournament schedule and included tour star Natalie Gublis cutting one donor’s hair.
Laureen Benafield had been measuring Anna Claire’s hair frequently to ensure her daughter’s thick auburn hair was long enough to meet the 8-inch requirement since deciding to participate nearly two months ago.
She was surprised Anna Claire wanted to go through with the cut.
“She loves having long hair,” she said before the first snip.
But it was an easy decision for Anna Claire, who was only 4 years old when her mother lost her hair as a side effect of chemotherapy, which treated her breast cancer.
“It’ll just be fun to get a haircut, but it makes me happy it’s for a good cause,” Anna Claire said. She said her mother looked “wierd-ish different” when she lost her hair.
But hair grows back, the two agreed, and Laureen Benafield has been a survivor for nearly five years.
“For a long time, I didn’t want them to see me without my head covered,” Benafield said. She had a wig but opted to wear scarves instead.
“When I had no hair I vowed never to get upset about a bad hair day,” she said.
Anna Claire beamed as she ran her fingers through her hair. She liked her long hair, but said the cause was worth the sacrifice.
“Once I heard it, I just knew I would do it,” she said. “My hair — I really just don’t do a lot with it.”
Her friends Emily Furlow, 7, and Mary Larkin Furlow, 9, agreed.
“It will dry faster,” Mary Larkin said.
Anna Claire thinks the person who gets the wig made from her hair will look like a copy of herself.
For sisters-in-law Jana and Katie Perry, Wednesday’s event wasn’t the first time they’ve given up their long hair for cancer patients. Jana has lopped her hair off twice and Katie three times.
Jana Perry teared up when she talked about her first time donating hair years ago in memory of a friend’s brother who died from cancer when he was 8 years old.
“It was my birthday present to her,” she said.
Both admitted they may have “chickened out” if it weren’t for the other’s support on Wednesday.
“I’ve been a nervous wreck all day,” Katie Perry said, explaining it has been only a year since she last donated, and her hair hasn’t grown as long as she hoped. “But there’s people who need this whether I’m ready.”
To contact this reporter: aotoole@arkansasonline. com