The battle between boys and their parents over hair length is probably not that uncommon, but when 9-year-old Elijah Kline went to his parents April and Eric Kline informing them he wanted to grow his hair out they gave the thumbs-up.

Elijah wanted to grow his hair in order to donate it to the group Children with Hair Loss, a nonprofit that provides wigs for children battling cancer.

“I feel so proud of him, especially for being so young,” April said of Elijah’s decision to help. “It’s such a grown-up decision. It’s awe-inspiring and it shows that little things can make a difference.”

For Elijah, it was a simple decision that also allowed him to honor his late uncle Matthew Learn, who died of leukemia in 2013.

And while that was a major decision, it gets even more basic than that.

“I wanted to do it for people in general,” Elijah said. “I don’t even know what made me think about it. Just Matthew inspired me to do it.”

And so it went, starting the long process in 2014 and going until Wednesday of last week when the hair finally came off at the scissors of Leah Erickson at The Essence Salon, measuring 8 inches when in a pony tail.

Everyone got used to it and people didn’t even recognize me,” Elijah said. “And now even more people won’t recognize me.”

To learn more about Children With Hair Loss, visit www.ChildrenWithHairLoss.us.