When Denise Southwood thinks of her son the words energetic, curious, and "10 going on 40" come to mind.
That's because it's not every day that a 4 going on 5-year-old boy asks to grow out his hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths -- the 7-year-old program that makes wigs for cancer patients out of donated hair. But Colin did.
Denise thinks he was inspired by the St. Jude commercials he saw at the time, and his own family members -- a grandmother, two great-grandparents, a teacher at school -- who were diagnosed with cancer.
He spent the next five years growing his hair.
He was mistaken for a girl several times, Denise told HuffPost, but says her son handled himself with grace and stuck to his goal.
"I'm proud that he came to this decision by himself. I get choked up really thinking about it," she said.
And finally, in May of this year, the now 10-year-old decided his hair was long enough to cut. He went to the salon and chopped off 13 inches to donate.
That day, he wrote a letter about his hair:
"He's a good-hearted kid," Denise said. So good, that he's already growing out his hair for another donation.