BEEVILLE — Somewhere in the tempestuous world of cancer survivors, a woman is soon going to put on a wig made from the hair of an FMC Elementary School fourth-grader.

Her new esteem, gained from appearing to have a full head of hair, only is matched by the sense of excited sacrifice felt by 9-year-old Mya Estrada, the daughter of Alice Doria of Beeville.

“I started thinking about doing it a couple of months ago,” Estrada says. “I have never had a hair cut,” showing off her hair that hung below her waist.

“I’m just really tired of my hair,” she said a few days before her appointment with Saragoza Martinez, owner of Illusions.

To mark Cancer Awareness Month, members of the National Elementary Honor Society at FMC chose to perform community service as a group or to do something significant individually.

That was Mya’s cue.

So, late Tuesday afternoon, she walked into Illusions for her appointment with a ruler and a pair of scissors.

Martinez performed the task.

First, he carefully measured Mya’s hair to make sure there was the required minimum of 12 inches. There was, with plenty to spare.

Snip.

Saragoza handed May her donation.

She threw her head back with a squeal that only could be described as a mixture of delight and despair.

Hair today; gone tomorrow.

Bill Clough is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 122, or at beepic@mySouTex.com.