TRUMBULL — When Jessie Marchetti was a high school student, she decided to cut her hair to raise money for her track and field coach’s daughter, Mia, who was diagnosed with leukemia.
Since then Marchetti, who was born with Down syndrome, has continued to cut her hair to support more children struggling with pediatric cancer with hopes to put a smile on their faces. Her latest effort came this week when she teamed up with her former coach, Jim McCaffrey, who is a volunteer with the local nonprofit organization, LivFree.
“It’s been a great experience and I’m sure I can help a lot of people and make them happy and smile,” said Marchetti, now 21.
In 2019, she donated eight inches of her hair to the organization Children with Hair Loss and raised money for the local nonprofit Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer.
“Jessie has cut her hair a couple of times and each of those times she’s raised money,” McCaffrey said. “She wants to do it in memory of Mia and in honor of my family.”
McCaffrey’s daughter, Mia, was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer, in 2016.
“Mia fought cancer every day and beat it everyday but unfortunately in March 2017 she passed away,” McCafrey said. “After Mia’s passing, the team and the community rallied around me and supported my family so my connection to Jessie and that team deepened.”
McCaffrey said at the time of his daughter’s diagnosis the cancer was not deemed terminal. But when they learned it had spread, they fought to get her the care she needed until it was too advanced.
Since then, McCaffrey has been devoted to volunteering with LivFree and gladly joined Jessie Marchetti to collaborate in more fundraising efforts.
After growing her hair out for two years, Marchetti eagerly cut off almost 14 inches during a haircutting event this week at Kenny Z’s Salon located at 4244 Madison Ave.
Her goal is to raise $7,500. Since the event, she has raised more than $5,500 with 132 donors.
“I said this is something that I want to do because I know I am brave enough to cut my hair,” Marchetti said. “I wanted to help people and this is one of my favorite fundraisers.”
Daniel Vieira and his wife, Katrina, founded LivFree in 2016 after their 1-year-old daughter, Lauren, was diagnosed with leukemia.
This is their first time collaborating with Jessie, and they expressed how excited they were to be active in Trumbull after relocating to the town in August.
“We founded LivFree because the community support has been tremendous,” said Daniel Vieira. “Jessie has helped a lot of different organizations for kids with cancer. This is her first time helping LivFree and it’s so nice to see people rally around somebody for a cause.”
LivFree’s mission is to “provide kids and their families an experience to help give them a break from treatment and provide some family fun time,” according to its website,
It does this by providing tickets to events and shows to families for free.
“The money that she is raising is going to help 10 families that are going through cancer treatments,” he said. “They’re going through tough times and they will be able to go out, experience some fun and forget about their cancer treatments for a little while. She’s providing smiles to 10 families, which is really incredible.”
Marchetti’s parents, Doug and Sheila, have supported her throughout her journey and said they are proud of the work she has done.
“She has a big heart,” said Sheila Marchetti. “She wants to help people and she gets nothing out of it, except it makes her happy as well.”
McCaffrey said he commends the Marchetti family for its continued support over the past several years and expressed the need for additional support from the community for organizations like LivFree.
“Everybody that’s involved in LivFree has been directly impacted by childhood cancer in some way, all of us have the mission of wanting to do good,” he said. “The Marchetti family is rooted in our community and Jessie is so electric because she lights up and always has such a great smile.”
Jessie Marchetti said she has no plans of stopping, and hopes more people will continue to come out and show support.
“It’s good to help people and make them happy,” she said. “I want to make everybody smile and have fun and I want them to join in and do it too.”