A LITTLE girl who spent the first month of her life being cared for in a neo-natal unit has raised hundreds of pounds to help other children.

Six years ago the family of Katelyn Wright raised money for Airedale hospital in honour of her first birthday. This year Katelyn is asking for donations to the Little Princess Trust for her seventh birthday and has donated nine inches of her own hair to the charity.

Katelyn, from Guiseley, was delivered prematurely by caesarean section and spent about a month in Airedale Hospital’s neonatal unit, including five days in intensive care.The Wright family celebrated their daughter’s first birthday by raising more than £1800 in 2015 for the neonatal unit that cared for her.

This year Katelyn decided on her own fundraising idea - to donate her hair to the little Princess Trust on her seventh birthday.

The youngster, who told her parents “other children are braver than me and need it”, planned to get her hair cut on her birthday. But the appointment was brought forward ahead of the anticipated lockdown expected in the Prime Minister's announcement on January 4.

Katelyn’s dad David said: "When we heard there was going to be a press conference we assumed the announcement would lead to non essential services closing. Katelyn has been counting down the days until she could do this so to fulfil her birthday wish, I was able to organise a last minute appointment at Chris Wallbank Hairdressers in Guiseley."

Katelyn wanted to give at least seven inches of her hair but in the end donated nine. Alongside the hair donation her mum, Clare, set up a justgiving page to raise money for the charity too.

Clare said she was incredibly proud of how determined Katelyn was to help other children despite everything else going on in the world at the moment.

She said “We hoped to raise a little to go towards the cost of turning the donated hair into a wig for children and young people experiencing the devastating effects of hair loss but family, friends and colleagues’ generosity has surpassed all our expectations."

So far the family have raised more than £500 for the Little Princess Trust.

Due to the new lockdown restrictions, the Trust is now asking supporters to join their #LetItGrow campaign and hold off cutting their hair for the moment.

After raising money for Airedale Hospital’s neonatal unit in 2015 Clare said: “The team that looked after her and us through a scary, emotional and challenging time was wonderful. Kate is now thriving and we wanted to do something special to say thank you.”

The Little Princess Trust is a charity that provides real hair wigs, free of charge, to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions.