This is 10-year-old Tyler Boone of Atlanta, Georgia, and his 12-year-old friend Gabby Ruiz, of Riverview, Florida.
At age 4, Gabby developed alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease that causes hair loss. Since real hair wigs are expensive, she’s generally worn headbands or hats and gone without a wig.
“We’re very open and we leave it up to her,” Gabby’s mom, Emilia Ruiz, told BuzzFeed News. “We want her to be comfortable.”
When Tyler and Gabby met three years ago, Tyler noticed that Gabby seemed especially shy. “He immediately asked Gabby’s mom what he could do for her to make her feel better,” Tyler’s dad, Jason Boone, told BuzzFeed News.
When Tyler realized that Gabby couldn’t grow her own hair, the fourth-grader generously decided to grow some for her.
It took him two years to grow the required 10 inches of hair necessary for the nonprofit Children With Hair Loss to make a wig, but Tyler persevered.
When the day came for Tyler to finally cut his locks, Gabby was the one who did the honors.
“Tyler is such a generous kid,” his dad said. “We try to raise him with the message that you put other people first.”
Children With Hair Loss now has the hair and will take another few weeks to fashion the wig. Gabby’s mom says she’s been blown away by Tyler’s kind act.
“It’s a sweet thing that a kid at his age would want to do that for a friend,” she said. “To see Gabby smile after going through all of this has been really sweet.”
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