The courage of a Decas Elementary School 4th grader to ignore the taunts of his peers came to a head recently as 10-year-old Avery Gilbert donated 10 inches of his hair on April 25 to Wigs for Kids after growing it out for almost 4 years.

"He is very strong-willed and I am really proud of him for caring enough to even think of making a donation, but am in awe of how compelled he was to follow through with it," said Gilbert's mother Dawn Gilbert.

Wigs for Kids is a nonprofit organization that donates hair to kids that are suffering from hair loss as a result of medical treatments, health conditions, or burns.

The young Gilbert was watching television with his mother 3 years ago when an advertisement for a cancer institute featuring young children who had lost their hair prompted him to ask his mother, "why?" Dawn explained.

After his mother explained the reasons, Avery decided that he wanted to grow his hair out and donate it, Dawn said.

"After the first year, it got really tough for me more than him I think, with people starting to mistake him for a girl or getting teased by other kids, but he never let it bother him," Gilbert said.

Gilbert also didn't let the adults who mistakenly called him a girl phase him either. During his 10th birthday, Dawn Gilbert said, the waitress at a restaurant announced to everyone in the establishment "We have a very special girl here today to celebrate her 10th birthday!" and then proceeded to sing the birthday song to him. It didn't bother Avery at all, Dawn said.

The Gilberts originally planned to donate the hair to "Locks of Love," a nonprofit that also serves children who have lost hair as a result of a medical condition.

When Avery went to cut his hair in August of 2011, he learned that his hair was a 1/2" short of the 8" requirement to donate. He had planned on donating for a long time and was so bummed out his mother donated her own hair to Locks of Love instead.

"It was him who made me do it," said Gilbert. "He was proud about it too."

In the meantime, the Gilberts learned that if they donated to Wigs for Kids, the hair would be given to a child within Massachusetts, Dawn Gilbert said.

Avery grew his hair out for almost a year more and finally cut his hair at Hair Boutique II in Buzzards Bay in late April to make the donation to Wigs for Kids.

After Gilbert went back to school, the YMCA, and to his Cub Scout Pack 151 of Plymouth, people could barely recognize him, his mother said.

"Even I had a hard time when I went to pick him up at the Y," Dawn said. "I kept looking all around through all the kids and then there he was laughing at me."

Avery already wants to donate again, and some of his friends are inspired to do the same.

"Some of the other boys in his pack want to do the same thing," said Dawn. "It just makes me smile to know that he has inspired others into doing something for a good cause."