--- title: Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer description: 8-year-old Christian McPhilamy endured teasing for two years while he grew his hair out to donate to children who had lost theirs. canonical: https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-04T14:42:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:20:43.671Z og:title: Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer og:description: He was teased and mistaken for a girl og:url: https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer twitter:description: He was teased and mistaken for a girl twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer ## Video: How $1,000 Could Help Your Health [Watch (HLS stream): How $1,000 Could Help Your Health](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EILRa37f.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2014-08-22. From acupuncture to yoga, $1,000 can go a long way to improving your health._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 4, 2015 2:42 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 4, 2015 2:42 PM UTC People teased him for looking like a girl, but 8-year-old Christian McPhilamy had long blonde hair for a very good reason. Christian, of Melbourne, Fla., had grown his hair out for more than two years to donate to children who had lost theirs, [Today reports](http://www.today.com/parents/florida-boy-grows-out-hair-donate-child-need-t24171). He recently got it cut and produced four 10-inch-long sections that he sent to the nonprofit [Children With Hair Loss](http://www.childrenwithhairloss.us/). As his hair got longer over the years, Christian was often teased by classmates, mistaken for a girl or told that he needed to cut his hair. “Christian has such a huge heart,” his mom, Deeanna Thomas, told Today. “I don’t even know if there are words to describe how proud I am of him.” \[[_Today_](http://www.today.com/parents/florida-boy-grows-out-hair-donate-child-need-t24171)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/"},"headline":"Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer","datePublished":"2015-06-04T14:42:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:43.671Z","description":"He donated 40 inches of hair","url":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","Cancer","U.S.","Charity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/","name":"Boy Grows Out His Hair for 2 Years to Donate to Kids With Cancer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How $1,000 Could Help Your Health","description":"From acupuncture to yoga, $1,000 can go a long way to improving your health.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EILRa37f/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-22T16:19:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EILRa37f.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3908910/boy-hair-donate-cancer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```