An Arizona man has been growing out his hair in order to use it as a base for the creation of a wig for his mother, who lost her hair as a result of a prolonged battle with a benign brain tumor.
Four years ago, in order to win over a benign brain tumor that kept reappearing, Melanie Shaha endured excruciating radiation treatment, which ultimately led to the irreversible loss of her hair.
The child made the conscious decision to let it grow out over the course of the previous two years.
Matt Shaha, age 27, began working toward his goal at the beginning of the year 2020. He waited until his hair had grown twelve inches before chopping it and paying to have a wig created for his mother.
The woman who was a mother to six children was overcome with wonder when she found out that she had been given a gift that she had never even dreamed of receiving. Matt’s mother had to hide her baldness by covering her head with a hat, but Matt was continually concerned about how she was doing.
Because of this, he responded to her during one of his school breaks by saying, “Perhaps I’ll grow it for you, mum,” then, as he proceeded, he said, “it just sort of clicked: Well, why don’t I?”
In spite of this, he was unable to let his hair grow out when he was a student at Brigham Young University since doing so was against the school’s regulations. As a direct consequence of this, he was granted permission to let his hair grow out when the epidemic came in March 2020 and the majority of schools switched to online mode.
Melanie said that she “realized that was a lot to expect and… there could come a moment when it’s not feasible for his work, in sports, or in his relationships.” In March of 2022, he had a haircut, which caused Melanie to sob uncontrollably.
She said that it was quite surprising how kind, compassionate, and self-sacrificing Matt had been. He has shown a great deal of affection and concern. Matt sent the hair to Compassionate Creations in Newport Beach, California.
Compassionate Creations is a firm that makes tailored wigs for those who are experiencing hair loss due to medical conditions such as cancer or chemotherapy.
As soon as the wig was done, Melanie donned her son’s long strawberry blonde hair and said that she looked like herself once again. She wore the wig until it was completely finished. Midway through the month of June, the wig was delivered.
“Meaning the world to me” was what Matt called the experience of seeing the endeavor “just sort of come to completion and seeing how brilliantly it turned out.”
This heartwarming story serves as a gentle reminder to care for our parents and to treat them with respect.