Lots of locks for ‘Love’ program

Cedar Rapids girl gives hair to non-profit group

By Jim O’Neal
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS – McKayla Vander Sanden pressed her back against the tough vinyl of the hydraulic swivel chair, gripped her big sister’s hand and scrunched up her brow.
Her father, Jerry Vander Sanden, stepped forward and gently kissed her cheek.
“Don’t worry, McKayla,” he said soothingly. “You’re in the hands of a real pro.”
She drew in a long breath, pressed her lips tightly and squeezed her eyes shut.
Upon hearing a gritty slicing sound and a roomful of rolling gasps, McKayla popped open her blue eyes and grinned at the reflection of a suddenly short-haired girl.
The breath she’d been holding sprang out as a gleeful bit of a yelp.
The hard part now past with no turning back, McKayla breathed easily as hairstylist Lori O’Donnell handed a lustrous brown 14-inch ponytail to McKayla’s mother, Denise Vander Sanden, and went about giving the 6-year-old girl her first real haircut.
McKayla started down the path to Hansen’s Hair Haven, 719 Third St. SW, after asking her mother why a girl at the doctor’s office had no hair.
“My mom told me there are children who don’t have any hair because they’re sick or they’re taking medicine,” she said.
True to her nature, McKayla asked her mother if there was anything she could do for such kids. Her mother told her about Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that uses donated hair to provide hairpieces to children with long-term medical hair loss.
That’s when McKayla decided to part with most of her 24 inches of hair.
Before that day, she said, she had planned to grow her hair “all the way down to the floor.”
Lightly holding the hair she had brushed, braided and styled every morning for years, Denise Vander Sanden spoke admiringly of her daughter.
“I’m really pleased that she chose to do this,” Denise Vander Sanden said. “McKayla has a real desire to help others. She’s a thoughtful little girl.”
McKayla’s half sister, Leah O’Donnell, 17, affirmed her mother’s pride as the feeling returned to her hand.
“I think it’s cool,” said Leah, who is hairstylist Lori O’Donnell’s niece. “She wanted to get it cut so we can look more alike – like twins. She’s awesome. She’s a good sister.”
Jerry Vander Sanden, who serves as first assistant Linn County attorney, said McKayla is always thinking of others. When Lori O’Donnell finished evening up and blow-drying McKayla’s sophisticated new ‘do, she turned her client toward the mirror and asked what she thought.
“I like it!” McKayla said.
“You’re beautiful,” her mother said. “You look like an angel.”

Caption:
Leah O’Donnell (left), 17, gives her little sister, McKayla Vander Sanden, 6, a kiss as Denise Vander Sanden, the girls’ mother (back left) and hairstylist Lori O’Donnell measure the length of McKayla’s hair Saturday at Hansen’s Hair Haven in Cedar Rapids. McKayla, who until Saturday had never had a real haircut, was able to donate 14 inches to the non-profit Locks of Love program. McKayla and her family live in Cedar Rapids.
Laura Segall/The Gazette
This story ran in The Gazette of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa, on Dec. 21, 2003.