Mt Albert Grammar students dressed in fluoro colours to raise money for their schoolmate. Photo / Brian Murphy
A schoolgirl who has lung and bone cancer has been given a $9000 present by her schoolmates.
Students at Mt Albert Grammar School raised the cash by dyeing their hair and wearing pink tights and other outrageous colours to help 18-year-old Sally Ainley, a triplet.
Her sisters, Emma
and Alison, have been studying for final exams but Sally has been in Middlemore Hospital, where she has just endured a shoulder operation and chemotherapy.
She has been battling bone cancer and secondary lung cancer for about three months.
Yesterday, she told the Herald she was overwhelmed by the school's support and generosity.
She couldn't be at Fluoro Day but her sisters took photos for her.
"I'd heard they were doing one but didn't know it was for me. I really didn't expect it."
Being an identical triplet, Sally has had her share of mix-ups when people mistake her for one of her sisters.
"We're in a lot of the same classes so it's quite funny when people can't tell us apart. It happens all the time - but not now that I'm bald."
Her mum, Genemeine, said Sally and the family didn't allow negative feelings to enter their minds.
"We don't allow negative people around us. Sally is constantly cracking jokes, like she's proud to be bald."
The money the school raised will be saved and spent on further treatment and costs associated with the illness.
"The money is already being helpful," Mrs Ainley said. "I have to buy a La-Z-Boy chair for Sally because she can't lie down after the operation she has just had. I wouldn't have been in a position to do that."
Mt Albert Grammar School headmaster Dale Burden agreed Sally's positivity was remarkable. "She's very popular, very smiley and has a very positive approach to life
"Being one of triplets she's very identifiable. She plays lacrosse, which isn't a popular sport but she's helped grow the sport in the school."
The Fluoro Day was the most successful single-day fundraiser Mt Albert Grammar had held.
"All the kids came in bright yellows, greens and pinks," Mr Burden said. "We had macho 1st XV players in pink leotards ... They really got into it, especially her cohorts in Year 13."
