Owen Rixon loses his locks to help classmate Liam

Owen Rixon sat proudly in front of his school on Wednesday while his emotional mother shaved off his long fiery red locks to enable his beautiful hair to be made into wigs for sick children and raise funds for his fellow classmate Liam Hobden.

Owen has been growing his hair for almost four years.

He has always loved his flowing locks, however, when classmate Liam was diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia for which there is no known cure, he decided that he would shave his head and help raise the $55,000 the Hobden family needed to raise to take Liam to Thailand.

Liam has been accepted in a stem cell trial and specialist programs which may help him to be able to walk and play with his classmates.

Owen has raised more than $1000 on his GoFundMe page and with school holidays starting at the end of the week and only four weeks until Liam and his mum head to Thailand, Owen lost his locks on Wednesday.

Liam was too overwhelmed to make his speech to Owen so his mother Stacey stepped in and then Liam presented a certificate to Owen as well as the Boggabri Public School for their support.

Owen was brave and sat smiling as his hair fell to the ground, however, there were a few tears rolling down some cheeks, laying bear the emotion in the room.

Owen is vice school captain and comes from a caring and community minded family.

His father Christopher is a member of the SES, his mother has recently started working at the school but prior to that she has been a main stay in the Boggabri Parents and Citizens Organisation as well as supporting her children in their sporting interests.

Owen has started playing rugby in Gunnedah and last weekend was presented with the ‘Most Improved’ in his team.

One of his classmates, Jack Bomford also plays rugby and said to Owen after he had lost his hair: “You will probably have to tighten your new headgear, because it will be too big now”.

With a big grin on his face Owen replied, “I know, I will probably have to go back to wearing the old one”.

With the temperature sitting at 10.2 degrees, Owen was happy to receive a new beanie to keep his head warm.