West Lothian schoolboy cancer free after devastating diagnosis at two years old

A West Lothian schoolboy who successfully beat leukaemia has been helping other children who are going through cancer treatment.

Quinn Martin, 10-years-old, has been growing his hair for the last two years so he could cut and donate it to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that uses real hair from donors to create wigs for children who have lost their hair through chemotherapy, reports The Daily Record.

Quinn celebrated being clear of cancer for five years after he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia at two-and-a-half-years old.

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The P6 Bankton Primary School pupil donated 12 inches of his hair and raised over £1,000 while his mum Janine had 13 inches of her hair cut, which was also donated.

As a toddler, Quinn also shaved his head along with his dad Aidan in 2016 to raise funds for Jak’s Den and raise some awareness for childhood cancer.

After being diagnosed his parents initially thought he had a viral infection after suffering from sore legs and other health complaints.

Mum Janine said: "Quinn will be celebrating five years clear and free this year and has spent the last two-and-a-bit years, growing his hair to donate it to Little Princess Trust.

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"He decided to grow it out halfway through Primary 4, so from December 2022, to donate it. His words to me at the time were ‘I want to grow it out to donate it to all the boys and girls who don’t have any hair to make them happy’.

“He loves his new hair. He had always wanted long hair but I think he soon realised its not all fun and games and that there was a lot more involved with long hair over short.

“He has said he wouldn’t grow it out again at the moment but will consider it when he’s older to donate again as he loves the thought of making someone happy when they are going through a hard time.”

Janine continued: “He actually lost his hair twice, so the initial part of the treatment his hair fell out, so we just shaved it all off.

“Then they go through a period in the first six months where they get a little rest from the really harsh chemo and his hair grew back again but then they go into the final harsh bit, so he lost it twice really. So he had that in mind when he wanted to help other children.

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“He had always wanted long hair, but we weren’t sure, but when he told me why he wanted to grow it out to make the other boys and girls happy who don’t have any hair, that just had me in floods of tears, so of course we said, crack on son!

“He says he likes his new hair and his friends they liked it – his teachers were really shocked.”