A 7-year-old boy asked to shave his head after school. When his dad heard why, he reached for the trimmer too
Growing up, many children are particular about their hair, appearance and style. So when a 7-year-old, Vincent Butterfield, asked his parents to shave his head, they wondered why he requested such a thing until they learned the reason. The then-first-grader at Central Elementary School in Union, Missouri, insisted on shaving his head back in 2014. When his dad asked why, he learned a moving reason, per TODAY. The dad ensured that his son wouldn’t be doing the act alone and wanted to assure him of his support. As a result, he shaved his head, too, and it’s the perfect addition to an already wholesome story.
The first-grader approached his dad, saying that he wanted to shave his head. The dad learned the reason and decided to help him out by joining him. When they both shaved their heads, Vincent’s mother, Karen Butterfield, was left confused and surprised. When she learned the reason, she instantly knew it came from a place of love. “Vincent is like that. He’s a compassionate little boy. When he sets his mind to it, he does it,” the mom said. But what was it that he was so determined to shave his head? It was his 6-year-old friend, Zac Gossage. He was battling leukemia and had shaved his head due to chemotherapy.
Zac felt uncomfortable with his bald head and didn’t want to go to school. He cried to his mom, Stacey Tooley. Fortunately, Vincent empathized with his friend, whom he had known since kindergarten. When he learned about Zac’s chemotherapy and that he had to shave his head, he rushed to his dad and said that he wanted to shave, too. “I didn’t want him to feel like the only one without hair,” Vincent kindly remarked. So, the little boy decided to surprise Zac at school, per KSDK.
He approached his first-grade teacher, Adrienne Koester. “Mrs. Koester, I have a surprise for Zac," he said. "And I said, 'Well, you do?' And he pulled off his stocking cap and here I see that he shaved his head,” the teacher recalled. Vincent proudly remarked, "I cut it off to make Zac feel like he's not the only one without any hair." Seeing his friend supporting him with a shaved head, Zac had no worries about going to school thereafter. The little boy mentioned that he no longer felt alone. “It made me feel awesome because I wouldn’t be the only one with no hair,” Zac added.
Tooley was grateful, not just that Vincent shaved his head but that he had offered such a priceless friendship to her son. “I’m grateful that he has such an amazing friend,” she remarked. "To have that support, to be a normal kid when everybody is looking at you differently, it makes me really happy that he has him,” she said. Later, Vincent and his family even helped make scarves to sell on Facebook so they could help with funds for Zac’s treatment. The initial goal was to sell 10 scarves and make $100, but determination and love pushed it to 20 scarves and $200 for Zac. A few years later, in 2016, Zac was finally able to undergo his last chemotherapy and be declared cancer-free, per KSDK News. And even then, Vincent was there by his side, ensuring he was present to celebrate with his buddy.