BOY, 11, TAUNTED OVER LONG HAIR RAISED £1,230 FOR CHARITY

An 11-year-old rugby player stuck with his long hair despite taunts, then donated 18 inches to help children who lost theirs to cancer treatment. Jacob McPeake’s gesture was in memory of three grandparents who had cancer.

Jacob, from Gloucester, had his hair cut in the week of July 29, 2021, and raised £1,230 for The Little Princess Trust. The charity said the money would help provide wigs to children who lost hair through cancer treatment.

Getting there wasn’t easy. Jacob faced teasing and taunting as his hair grew, and his mother, Sally, said he considered cutting it earlier than planned.

Then a rugby player stepped in with a letter. “I am sorry to hear that some people have made some silly comments about your long hair,” Guy Thompson wrote to him.

A letter from a rugby star

Jacob was a keen sportsman who played rugby for Brockworth Badgers. Thompson, an ambassador for The Little Princess Trust, had played for Wasps and Leicester Tigers before representing Ealing Trailfinders.

He also knew the journey firsthand. “Just like you, I also play rugby and I, too, grew my hair very long so I could donate it to The Little Princess Trust,” Thompson wrote.

He went on to tell the boy that his hair did not take anything away from him on the pitch or off it.

“I want you to know that your long hair does not make you any less of a rugby player or a person – in fact, I think it shows just what an independent and strong individual you are,” Thompson wrote.

“And it also shows you are incredibly generous and kind,” he added.

Thompson also tied the message back to the sport they both played. “Rugby is a brilliant team game and the best players in our sport are unselfish and always think of their teammates,” he wrote.

Sally said Jacob was delighted to get support from a rugby star.

What happened next

Thompson cheered him on publicly. In a LinkedIn post on August 7, 2021, he wrote, “This was such a brave decision to continue by Jacob.” He congratulated the boy and said the people who bullied him “should Be ashamed.”

The story found a second life years later. It went viral on X after a user named Massimo shared it, The Economic Times reported.