Disney wigs knitted for cancer kids

The Magic Yarn Project's Rapunzel wig. Photo / Go Fund Me, Holly Christensen

A woman has created a 'magical' way to help brave child cancer battlers who undergo chemotherapy treatment.

The Magic Yarn Project was started by Alaskan woman Holly Christensen after a friend's daughter was diagnosed with lymphoma.

Christensen, a former oncology nurse and mother, knitted a wig for Lily who began her battle with cancer at the age of two.

"I knew she would be going through a difficult time, and that no one would be able to take her suffering away," Christensen told parenting website Babble.

"I also knew that losing her long, curly blonde hair at not even three-years-old would be difficult for her, so I figured that the yarn wig could help bring a little magic and fun to a difficult time in her life."

Lily's reaction to her Rapunzel wig encouraged Christensen to make more.

Helped by her partner and volunteers, The Magic Yarn Project now make free wigs for children throughout the US.

On their Go Fund Me Page, Christensen explains that chemo treatments often leave patients' bare scalps too sensitive for traditional wigs.

So Magic Yarn volunteers crochet "extra-soft 'baby' yarn into beanies, and then transform them into storybook hairstyles".

The wigs have become hugely popular, as Christensen notes "a greater need for our sparkle than we first anticipated" with a quarter of their wigs snapped up in just a day.

They are free to cancer sufferers but the page asks for donations to fund production and shipping.

- nzherald.co.nz