The Magic Yarn Project: Former cancer nurse weaves wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy

"The wig brought joy and light to an otherwise difficult and dark time during her life"

Kashmira Gander
Wednesday 11 November 2015 11:10 GMT
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The GoFundMe page of the Magic Yarn Project
The GoFundMe page of the Magic Yarn Project

A former cancer nurse has brought "joy and light" into the lives of children undergoing chemotherapy treatment by weaving Disney princess-style wigs out of yarn.

Holly Christensen, from Palmer in the US state of Alaska, decided to make a wig after her college friend’s three-year-old daughter who was diagnosed with cancer in the early autumn and faced losing her hair to chemotherapy.

Ms Christensen's first creation was a long, Rapunzel wig weaved in yellow yarn and embellished with colourful flowers.

"She absolutely loved it and her mother expressed that it brought joy and light to an otherwise difficult and dark time during her life," she told the Mirror Online.

As word of Ms Christensen’s wigs spread other parents helping their children deal with chemotherapy requested similar designs, and she established The Magic Yarn Project with her friend Bree Hitchcock.

Explaining why some patients do not like wearing traditional wigs, she told ABC News: "The chemotherapy leaves their skin very tender and sensitive.

"[The wigs] are made on soft crocheted beanies."

The Magic Yarn Project relies on donations, sending their wigs to families across hospitals in the US for free.

Ms Christensen has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for The Magic Yarn Project and to attract volunteers. Dozens of people have come forward to help, including a craft group at a women’s prison, she told ABC News.

The group has so far raised over $5,000 on the page.

At the first The Magic Yarn Project workshop, attendees made over 40 wigs at an estimated cost of $650.

Volunteers made wigs resembling the hair of Jasmine from Aladdin, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and a rainbow wig, and plan to create more at workshops in mid-November.

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