International pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is donating $10 million to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The donation is one of the largest gifts ever received by the ACS and will help provide support for patients in United States hospitals.

Support will come in the form of specially-trained ACS employees who will work in 60 different hospitals and cancer centers and will offer social, emotional, financial, and transportation assistance in medically underserved Atlanta areas.

London-based AstraZeneca, maker of breast cancer drug tamoxifen and other breast and prostate cancer drugs, made $26 billion in sales last year, the same year the company gave $7 million to a Boston Cancer Society for the development of a Hope Lodge.

A few years ago -- I can't remember exactly when -- I cut bunches of red wavy locks from my friend's head. I tied Amber's thick hair into one big ponytail, and I cut away. It was an extreme haircut for sure. Amber's long hairstyle was transformed into a shoulder-length bob, and for good reason.

Amber sent her 10-inch ponytail to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that creates human hair wigs and hairpieces from donated hair and gives them to children under the age of 18 who have lost their hair due a medical condition. This was the first time I'd heard of Locks of Love, and I've since met many others who have purposely grown their hair in order to donate it. I have a neighbor who has done it three or four times now. I know two teenage brothers who have cut their long, dark hair for this great cause. And I've known toddlers whose parents have waited for that first haircut until 10 inches could be cut.

Ten inches is the magic number. Once tied into a ponytail, there must be 10 inches of hair hanging beneath the rubber band. The ponytail is cut off and what remains can be cut into a new style. Locks of Love provides the procedures for mailing the hair, and the details can be found on the Locks of Love website.

I was bald this time last year -- after receiving four rounds of toxic chemotherapy for breast cancer -- and I know how devastating hair loss can be. It affected my self-esteem, and I can only imagine how it affects children whose self-esteem is just forming.

You might consider donating your hair so that a child's confidence can be restored during a time that is so difficult and challenging. I will consider it too -- but I must say that for now, I am enjoying watching my new short, brown, curly hair grow and grow and grow.