Having endured more than a year of chemo and radiotherapy, Priya is having her long hair cut again

When their little girl woke one morning with a bump on her hand, the worst her parents could imagine was she’d been bitten by an insect or a spider. What followed was unthinkable... but now Priya’s fighting back.

Five years after she fought cancer, Priya Ramswaru is raising funds for the Cancer Council's Ponytail project

Priya Ramswarup had just started Year One at St Benedict’s in Yeppoon when she woke one Monday morning with a big bump on her right hand.

The worst her parents could imagine had happened was she’d been bitten overnight by some kind of insect or spider; they could never have guessed their precious daughter would spend the next 54 weeks in chemotherapy.

Five years after she fought cancer, Priya Ramswarup is raising funds for the Cancer Council's Ponytail project

Priya was diagnosed with a rare kind of cancer - alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma – and, once she knew she would lose her hair during treatment, she opted to have her long locks cut into a short bob.

Amazingly, even though she’s now been cancer-free for five years, Priya is opting to have the chop again – same cut, same hairdresser.

This time, though, she’s doing it from a place of victory.

Priya, who began Year Seven at St Ursula’s this year, is chopping off her long hair for the Cancer Council’s Ponytail Project which raises money for essential cancer support services, prevention programs and lifesaving research.

Five years after she fought cancer, Priya Ramswarup is raising funds for the Cancer Council's Ponytail project

It’s her way of giving back to the people and organisations which saved her young life and looked after her family throughout the ordeal.

To date, she’s raised more than $12,000 for the campaign, with another month of fundraising to go.

Priya’s Mum, Vanessa, was worried at first that having her hair cut again might trigger some dark memories for her “funny, quirky, creative” child.

“I don’t think many people could appreciate how much she went through,” Ms Ramswarup said.

“In addition to the chemo and radiation, they explored her lymphatic system and checked her bone marrow.

“In a cutting-edge procedure they took out strips of her ovaries to save in case she had trouble conceiving later on.

“She was just so sick, her eyes were rolling back in her head; she couldn’t eat or drink.”

Five years after she fought cancer, Priya Ramswarup is raising funds for the Cancer Council's Ponytail project

One bright note is that the Ramswarups – who moved to Yeppoon to open the Coffee Club Yeppoon – had family in Sydney to take care of Vanessa while she in turn took care of Priya.

“I think we (husband Ravi and I) were more traumatised than Priya was; we were determined to keep her away from negative thoughts and people who weren’t coping,” Mrs Ramswarup said.

“There were a lot of attempts at diversion through humour too, being Captain Underpants and putting undies on our heads.”

Despite some very low odds, Priya made it through and went back to school in Yeppoon with a hat on her beautiful bald head.

With hard work and the help of tutors, she’d made up her grades and received above-average results on her first report card at high school.

Five years after she fought cancer, Priya Ramswarup is raising funds for the Cancer Council's Ponytail project

Now she’s reached her five-year all-clear, the point at which her survival odds are the same as any teenage girl, Priya is growing her lovely brown hair long just to cut it all off again.

The same hairdresser who volunteered her services the first time around – Angela Kelly from The Little Hair Room in Yeppoon – will cut Priya’s hair in front of her schoolmates on August 20.

You can donate to Priya’s Ponytail campaign at https://www.ponytailproject.com.au/fundraisers/priyaramswarup/qld-2021