A SCHOOLGIRL who was previously diagnosed with a tumour on her back and her head has said goodbye to her blonde locks for charity.

Little Juliette Goodman was not even two years old when doctors told her and mum and dad, Serena and Euan, that she would have to undergo surgery.

The youngster, who has just finished P1 at Innerwick Primary School, is raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital while donating her hair to The Little Princess Trust.

The charity provides real hair wigs to children and young people with hair loss.

Juliette, now five, was born with “a little lump” on her head and back, with Serena and her husband initially thinking it had just been caused through the birth.

However, the lump continued to grow and the youngster had to undergo surgery.

Serena, who also has a three-year-old daughter, Cosima, said: “The whole experience left a mark, an indelible mark, that meant we have got two children. Both are in good health and we are not going to jeopardise this.

“We have got everything we need and we want and when we got the results through that the tumour was benign we both just burst into tears.

“You don’t realise how much you have been holding your breath until somebody tells you there is nothing to worry about.

“The surgeon was phenomenal and phoned us at 7.30pm on a Friday evening to tell us. It was a sensational form of relief that cannot be described.

“We were waking her up to keep up her pain medication and her eyelids were swollen shut.

“You look at all little people and they just crack on. It is much harder for the parent or the caretaker who watch them in pain but they are just the best of the human race.”

The experience touched Serena so much that she decided to get her own hair cut and make a donation to the same charity.

Now, Juliette has followed in her mum’s footsteps.

Serena, 35, said ahead of her daughter’s haircut: “When we received the result that Juliette’s tumours were benign, I then knew I had to do something to help the families facing the opposite and devastating result.

“Many memories were woven into the 15-plus inches of hair I donated to the Little Princess Trust and now Juliette is supremely motivated to follow suit and donate her hair as well, raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

“Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Little Princess Trust are essential to the hope, treatment and care provided during the times we all wish to never personally experience.

“We can’t claim that a wig of Juliette’s golden hair will be everything or even anything to a child who is suffering.

“But her hair has witnessed magic and the power of love and comedy storytelling, and it is our sincerest hope that such a wig will be worn as armour in battle and will maybe bring a smile and a smidge of relief for the caregivers and parents during their relentless and life-changing ordeal.”

And she added: “She is super excited and just loves the idea of helping somebody who is not as fortunate as we were as a family or she was as an individual.

“You never know how these things are going to turn out.”

Juliette, who has raised more than £600 so far, had blonde hair just a few inches below her shoulders ahead of the haircut.

But she has said goodbye to about 25 centimetres when she got her hair cut just before the school holidays at Jack and Ivy in Dunbar.

Afterwards, Serena told the Courier that it had been “fantastic”, adding: “They made her feel very special and when I went to pay they waved the cost and said it can be added to the donations – superb service and evidence that kindness is contagious.

“We know it might not be much to anyone in these extremely ill situations, but we also know that a little bit of kindness, hope and the smallest of respite is worth something and better than nothing.”

Donations can still be made – go to gofundme.com/juliette-and-the-tuna-and-the-golden-wig