Captain Jin Gi-sa Lee Su-jeong, "Hoping My Hair Brings Back Children's Smiles"

2nd Hair Donation for Pediatric Cancer Patients

Captain Lee Su-jeong of the Naval Jinhae Base Command (hereinafter ‘Jingisa’) practiced neighborly love by donating her hair, which she had carefully grown over the past three years, to children with cancer on the 9th in celebration of Family Month.

Captain Lee Su-jeong, Jinhae Base Command.

This hair donation by Captain Lee is her second act of kindness following 2021. After commissioning as a naval officer in 2017, she sought various volunteer activities and first learned in 2021 about children with cancer suffering physical and psychological pain due to hair loss after chemotherapy. Upon hearing about a senior officer’s hair donation, she sympathized with the purpose of helping young patients and donated her hair to the ‘Eomeona’ campaign headquarters.

After her first donation in 2021, Captain Lee saw an article reporting that the donated hair was made into wigs and being well utilized, which motivated her to continue donating. Through efforts to prevent hair damage for consistent donations, she was able to donate 30 cm of hair again this year.

Currently serving as the commander of the Chamsuri-336 patrol boat under Jingisa, Captain Lee cherished her hair despite the challenging ship duty environment with frequent emergency departures. Donating hair requires avoiding treatments such as perming and dyeing, and the hair must be grown to at least 25 cm in length, which is inconvenient. Managing long hair during the hot summer heat is difficult, but with the sole desire to share hope with children, she paid special attention to maintaining healthy hair.

Captain Lee said, “I hope my small sharing brings comfort to the children and becomes an opportunity for them to quickly return to their healthy original selves,” adding, “As the people’s military, I will continue to embrace the pain of neighbors and practice love that spreads positive influence.”