A KINDHEARTED mum whose baby was born with a misshapen head has raised more than £500 to help tots with the same condition.

Claire Pirrie’s baby Erin was born in August 2013 with plagiocephaly, a deformity of the skull also known as flat head syndrome.

After being told it would not be treated on the NHS as it was “cosmetic”, Claire and husband Andy had to find £2000 to pay for helmet therapy to help improve Erin’s condition.

Luckily, a relative funded the cost – and now Claire, a customer service officer at Clydesdale Bank in Dunfermline’s High Street, has cut off her hair for the Little Princess Trust to raise funds for Hospice UK and plagiocephaly charity Headstart4Babies.

The 34-year-old said, “I had read up online about the Little Princess Trust that they were looking for hair donations for wigs to help children who had lost their hair due to cancer.

“It costs £2000 to get a wig and it rang a bell with me because we had to pay that for a wee helmet for our girl.

“We were very lucky – a distant relative wanted to help and gifted us the money, but if we didn’t have that money, we would have gone to the bank for a loan.

“Headstart4Babies helps people who don’t have the money to pay for it and we could have gone to them.

“We didn’t have to do it but I thought, I could raise the money and pass it on to help someone else.” Claire and Andy, who are also parents to Ben (six), noticed Erin’s head “didn’t look quite right” in the first few weeks after her birth.

She explained, “We kind of ignored it because she was so small and thought it would fix itself. It was three months before we mentioned it to the health visitor and she suggested that we maybe make a wee appointment with the doctor.

“The doctor told us she had plagiocephaly and said she would grow out of it, but we wanted a second opinion and asked to be referred to the hospital.” However, following appointments at the Victoria Hospital, the couple were told that plagiocephaly treatment was not funded by the NHS.

They went online and found the Technology in Motion clinic in Glasgow, which treats kids with the condition.

The clinic helped fit Erin with a helmet, although the tot only has until February next year to get the condition fixed as best as possible.

Claire added, “It’s the only clinic in Scotland and it was about 10 months before she had the helmet on her.

“She can only have it on until February because by 18 months the plates in the head fuse.

“Once the plates have fused there’s nothing else that can be done, but we’ve already seen a lot of improvement.” Although plagiocephaly hasn’t affected Erin’s mental development, it can impact on her when she’s older.

Claire said, “We were relieved that it’s not going to affect her mentally but you worry about things like her appearance – kids can be quite cruel.

“If she wanted to ride a bike, she wouldn’t be able to get a bike helmet on, and her ears are slightly offset as well so she wouldn’t be able to get standard glasses if she needed them.

“You do worry, but we’re not as worried as we would be if the condition was affecting her development.” Claire showed she was a cut above by giving her eight-inch-long ponytail the chop on Monday – thanks to Amber from The Den hair salon in Dunfermline – and raising £500 to be split between the two charities, with Clydesdale Bank matching the donation to Hospice UK.

Donations are welcome and sponsor forms are available from the Clydesdale Bank branch at 64 High Street, Dunfermline.