Cruel Fate for a Young Boy Who Donated His Hair to Cancer Patients
Vinny Desautels was inspired to grow out his hair two years ago to support cancer patients. (His mother, stylist Amanda Azevedo, was interested in the cause.) Despite schoolyard taunting and being misidentified as a girl, the second-grader from Roseville, California, took it all in stride, according to his father, Jason Desautels.
Vinny began complaining about a stinging in his eye shortly after donating 13 (!!!) inches of hair to Wigs for Kids. His parents weren’t very concerned because it was allergy season. Unfortunately, Vinny’s eye worsened over time, and additional symptoms began to emerge.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the resilient 7-year-old returned home from school with a hurting knee, and his parents later observed that his right hip was swelled. They rushed him to the emergency room, where an X-ray verified the parents’ greatest fears: Vinny had a tumor in his pelvic bone.
Subsequent testing indicated that a tumor likewise caused Vinny’s eye edema. After repeated MRIs and blood testing, Vinny was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, most likely Ewing’s sarcoma, which grows in bone and soft tissue.
Vinny begins chemotherapy this week, and his family has established a GoFundMe campaign to assist with growing costs. They’ve already raised almost $457,000, demonstrating that Vinny’s altruism has inspired others.
Vinny, on the other hand, is optimistic. “He has the same mentality as long as we’re there with a grin, telling him he’ll be fine,” Desautels told the Charlotte Observer. “Vinny is an everlasting optimist, just like us.”
