14 DAY TRIAL // A 9-year-old girl from Colorado shaved her head with her parents’ permission, to support a friend who is battling a rare form of childhood cancer. That's a very noble and impressive thing to do, you would say, but, unfortunately, her school didn't think the same and banned her from class on Monday.
Kamryn Renfro wanted to support her 11-year-old friend Delaney Clements, who started chemotherapy to treat cancer, and decided to shave her head as an act of compassion.
Delaney began losing her hair due to the harsh treatment in her fight against neuroblastoma and was very impressed by her friend's gesture.
“I was really excited I would have somebody to support me, and I wouldn’t be alone with people always laughing at me. I would at least have somebody to go through it all,” she said, according to 9News.
“It made me feel very special and that I'm not alone,” she added.
Instead of appreciating the girl's brave gesture, the school, Caprock Academy in Grand Junction, said her new hairstyle violated their dress code, which was “created to promote safety and uniformity,” and asked her not to return until her hair grew back. Representatives of the school mentioned that, under their policy, shaved heads were not permitted.
Kamryn’s proud mother Jamie Renfro emailed the school, explaining why her daughter chose to go bald, but the board of directors initially refused to make an exception in her case.
“For a little girl to be really brave and want to shave her head in support of her friend, I thought that was a huge statement and it builds character in a child,” Renfro said.
Tuesday night, after the news broke and the incident started getting worldwide attention, the board of the public charter school reversed their decision, citing extraordinary circumstances. They allowed Kamryn to return to classes, after the board met to discuss this particular situation and the school's policy.
“She got up, got ready, and held her head high as she walked into her classroom this morning. To say her dad and I are proud, is a total understatement,” Kamryn's mother wrote on her Facebook page.
Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid form of cancer in childhood and the most common in infancy, with an incidence of about six hundred and fifty cases per year in the U.S. alone. It starts in certain very early forms of nerve cells found in an embryo or fetus.