When almost 5-year-old Blake Johns came up with the idea of cutting off his mullet to make money for ‘‘sick kids’’ — which was how he named the South Canterbury’s Hospice — his mother was cautious.
Tash Johns said the family — even his two brothers — did not want him to make a rash decision.
Mrs Johns said when her twins were born, Blake came out with a mullet.
‘‘His hair literally grew like that from birth.’’
While his brother grew hair all over — especially on top — Blake had most of his growth on the sides and hardly any on top. When she took her babies in for their first haircut, she asked the hairdresser to accentuate his hairdo.
‘‘My friend is a hairdresser and she hates mullets, so I said ‘Nah you have to cut it like a mullet’, as a bit of a joke.
‘‘But then it suited him.’’
She said as a 2-year-old, Blake would not let anyone cut his mullet.
Over the ensuing years, she and her husband had dubbed him Joe Dirt (after the mullet-wearing protagonist of a 2001 comedy movie).
But now the signature hairdo was gone, they had been forced to abbreviate his nickname to simply ‘‘Dirt’’.
She told her son if he wanted to cut his trademark locks off, he could do it before he started school.
On his fifth birthday, he went in for the chop.
His hair had been braided late last year, on a family holiday, which his mother said had become ‘‘a bit of a mop’’.
Blake carefully selected who could snip off a braid each.
The 5-year-old raised $610 for Hospice South Canterbury, which was handed over the day before he started school.
‘‘As we left Hospice we could see on Blake’s face just how proud he was to be able to help.’’
Mrs Johns said while Blake was not worried about his haircut, she had struggled with the change.
‘‘Because he looks so different, it’s just not him. He was always Blake with the mullet.’’
Mrs Johns said since the hair cut she often found herself gazing around shops wondering where he was.
‘‘I don’t recognise him at all from behind.’’
She said even from the front he looked different.
‘‘We are adjusting to it, let’s just say that.’’
She said his idea to cut the mullet blew her away, and it showed her ‘‘just how kind and caring he is to others’’.
‘‘We’ve lost quite a few people close to us and it has been really hard for us, and its been hard for the kids,’’ Mrs Johns said.
One of those people — Blake’s great granddad — died the day after Blake and his brother were born.
‘‘He had throat cancer but he had months to live.’’
She said it had been a fraught 24 hours, her placenta had ruptured and Blake had not been expected to survive.
‘‘We didn’t think he was going to live.’’
So when they rang family with the good news they were in for another shock.
‘‘We heard that my husband’s mum was up at hospice with Granddad. He was in there for a little bit of respite care, but when we rang to talk to Granddad and let him know the twins were born, we were told that unfortunately he had deteriorated quickly and was passing.’’
The couple video called him so he could see the babies.
‘‘He said only a couple of words, love boys, babies and boys.’’
She said those were his final words.
She said there were rules to Blake cutting his hair off for fundraising, for example ‘‘He had to ask himself.’’
She said she just facilitated and helped him.
‘‘He is very switched on, though.
‘‘We are so incredibly proud of Blake.’’
