Navy petty officer, triplets donate hair to cancer patients

A South Korean Navy petty officer has donated her hair with her triplet daughters to support children undergoing cancer treatment, the Navy said Wednesday.

Lee Eun-joo, 37, a petty officer first class assigned to the Navy’s 8th Combat Training Group, took part in the donation with her five-year-old triplet daughters, Jang Eun-jin, Jang Yu-jin and Jang So-jin.

On Monday, Lee and the three children each donated about 25 centimeters of hair they had grown for a year and a half, bringing the combined length to about one meter. The hair was delivered to the “Eomeona Campaign Headquarters,” a program run by the Korea Social Contribution Foundation. The campaign’s name is an abbreviation of “Hair Sharing for Young Cancer Patients.”

The foundation produces custom wigs using healthy donated hair measuring at least 25 centimeters and provides them free of charge to children receiving cancer treatment. About 1,500 pediatric cancer cases are reported in South Korea each year, according to estimates.

This was not the first time Lee and her daughters have made such a donation. In 2024, Lee and the triplets also donated hair they had grown for a year and a half, totaling 105 centimeters, including 30 centimeters from Lee and 25 centimeters from each child.

Lee said she decided to begin donating hair in 2020 while pregnant with the triplets after learning that many young cancer patients experience hair loss during chemotherapy treatment. She began the effort in 2022 by donating 30 centimeters of her own hair.

“As a member of the Navy protecting South Korea’s seas and as a mother raising triplets, I plan to continue donating hair for children with cancer, even if it is a small act of sharing,” Lee said.

Lee was commissioned in 2012 as part of the Navy’s 235th class of noncommissioned officers in the electronic warfare specialty. She previously served aboard the destroyer ROKS Wang Geon, a 4,400-ton vessel, and the Aegis destroyer ROKS Yulgok Yi I, a 7,600-ton ship. She now handles mobilization planning duties at the Reserve Force Management Squadron under the Navy’s 8th Combat Training Group. Her husband, Jang Dong-hwi, is also serving in the Navy as a petty officer.

In a separate act of donation in Jeju, a Navy warrant officer contributed blood donation certificates he had collected over three decades.

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Blood Center said Kim Jeong-ha, a Navy warrant officer assigned to the medical unit of the Navy’s Mobile Fleet, donated 104 blood donation certificates. Kim has regularly participated in blood drives since 1996 and also donated 30 certificates to the Korea Childhood Leukemia Foundation in 2020.

“I began donating blood after realizing its importance while treating emergency patients,” Kim said. “Blood donation is one of the most practical ways to share life with others, as long as one’s health allows it.”


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com