Shirlee and Rumena trim their tresses for two charities

TWO women. Two charities. Hundreds of pounds raised… And inches of hair cut!

Indeed, Shirlee McKeown of Omagh and her friend, Rumena Kostadinova McCabb are loving their trimmed tresses after ‘getting the chop’ on Saturday in aid of Little Princess Trust, and the MS Omagh & District Group.

The former is a charity which provides free real hair wigs to children and young people – aged up to 24 – who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions, and they further fund pioneering, life-saving research into childhood cancers. Meanwhile, the latter is a group which Shirlee describes as ‘close to her heart’. As well as supporting locals across Omagh who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the charity also offer therapy sessions for MS patients, group meetings, fundraising events, emotional support, help to access specialist services and financial support, information, and more.

Speaking of her journey to help those in need, Shirlee said, “It was towards the end of 2019 that Rumena and I decided to grow our hair long, with the idea of donating it to The Little Princess Trust.

“Then Covid came along, and this actually made it easier to grow our hair as the hairdressers were mostly closed due to lockdown restrictions.”

Fast-forward to Saturday morning past, and the inspiring ladies sat in the hot seat as they said a fond farewell to their long locks; inches of which were then packaged with love and posted to the Little Princess Trust.

“It has been a tough time for all charities, and so it means a lot to the both of us that we can do our bit to help,” the mother-of-three added. “The MS Omagh & District Group is very close to my heart, and I know that every penny they get goes to help those who are affected by MS.

“We are now getting used to having very short dos!”

Shirlee and Rumena have expressed their thanks to Rachel Redstone for being ‘brave enough to cut their hair’, and to everyone who has kindly donated to their fundraiser so far.

If you would like to help the pair raise even more in aid of The Little Princess Trust and The MS Omagh and District Group, please search ‘Little Princess Trust & MS Omagh & District Group’ on the ‘GoFundMe’ page. This page will not be closed until July 16, 2021.