Teacher shames 5-year-old cancer survivor over bald head

Ma'Kayla Welsh with her mum Nicole. Photo / Facebook, Nicole Welsh

Little Ma'Kayla Welsh was diagnosed with leukaemia almost two years ago. The Pennsylvania five-year-old underwent chemotherapy and is now in remission. But as a side effect of her treatment Ma'Kayla's hair has started to fall out.

Her mum, Nicole Welsh told US news outlet WPXI that her daughter is very self-conscious about her hair, to the point she was afraid to go to school once it all fell out.

While in class one day, a substitute teacher noticed Ma'Kayla with handfuls of hair. Believing the child was deliberately pulling her hair out, the teacher called the little girl out in front of her classmates, telling her: "If she was bald, she wouldn't be pretty," said Welsh.

Mother says substitute teacher shamed daughter battling cancer -- what the district says, on Ch 11 AM News. https://t.co/nXeEZQ4xkp pic.twitter.com/U7xZvFGyIL

— WPXI (@WPXI) February 14, 2017

When Welsh found out about her daughter's ordeal, she contacted the school and was told the incident had been handled and that Ma'Kayla would "never go through anything like that again."

And to ensure staff and children were better educated about Ma'Kayla's hair loss, the school shared a video to explain what the little girl was going through.

"When the video was done, the whole class rallied around and hugged her. She was excited and couldn't wait to go to school," Welsh said.

Welsh shared a message for the substitute teacher too: ""Be careful on [sic] how you word things to children ... Words can hurt a lot more than anything else.

"They can stick with you forever."